The Shadow Soldier
by lionesslullaby
Summary: Vitalani Gibbs, daughter of Jethro and Shannon Gibbs, is a member of NCIS, but SHIELD is looking to recruit the hunter/telekinetic into the Avengers. Follow this young woman's story as she falls in love & is forced to confront a past she'd rather forget.
1. Background Information

**A/N: This is just the background to the story, but it is pretty vital to understanding it. I only own Vitalani, and a majority of the plot. The first chapter will be a little more to the background – mostly a quick prologue – and the next few after that will just be a few cases she works with her team at NCIS. After that her story with the Avengers will begin. This story has a lot of crossover, but the main ones will be NCIS and Electra being crossed over with the Avengers. My friend Destiny's story Blades of Iron is the one that focuses mainly on the Electra crossover, mine is NCIS. Both will have tiny bits of G.I. Joe, and mine will also contain some Supernatural – mostly this will deal with the Angels and that's about it. Make sure to read my friend's story too, if there is something in this story that doesn't make the most sense than her story will probably clear it up and vice versa. **

**Name: **Vitalani Gibbs

**Codename:** The Lioness

**Born:** August 19th, 1987

**Looks: **Long black hair which is almost always up, blue eyes, 5'8", 122 lbs, and an athletic build.

For a picture go to google or bing images type in "killer woman" and her picture should be the first one there. The woman is holding a gun and a sword. If you can't find it let me know and I will try to send you the picture.

(weapons in the picture are not the hers)

**Tattoos:** Tramp stamp - angel wings with an ambigram of fallen angel between them. Right shoulder: sam and dean's tattoo in supernatural. Back of neck: claw marks

**Regular Jewelry:** bracelet made of black gypsy beads, necklace would be either her dog tags or a witch's ruin (look it up!), one ring on her right first finger of two overlapping wings and another on her left middle finger and it is a poison ring (fourth one on google images).

**Parents:** Leroy Jethro Gibbs and Shannon Gibbs (the very first wife)

**Lives:** At the beginning in Washington D.C., but will later move to New York

**Occupations:** Currently works for NCIS, and in addition to that she is an experienced hunter (the supernatural kind not the deer kind). Later she will work for S.H.I.E.L.D.

**Best Friend(s):** Kiara Natchios (read Blades of Iron) and Ziva David who is like her big sister

**Love Interest:** Steve Rogers aka Captain America – this will happen after she joins the Avengers.

**Powers:** Vitalani is a very powerful telekinetic who inherits her power from her mother's side. She is incredible with guns – owns a .50 caliber double action desert eagle and a Winchester model 1897 pump shotgun 12 or 16 gauge 6-round capacity (the .50 stays on her, the Winchester in her '74 midnight black Gran Torino). She also carries twin daggers which are strapped to her calves almost always concealed by jeans and her gray leather boots. She is also a master at kickboxing and Krav Maga.

**Past:** She is the only daughter of NCIS' Jethro Gibbs and his first wife, Shannon (**Kelly has never existed**). Her mother was a hunter – someone who kills the things that go bump in the night, the things you wish you didn't know really existed. Vitalani's story begins at the beginning of her eighth year, with her mother's death. Vitalani was suppose to be with her mother that day, but at the last minute decided to go to work with her father (**I don't know if Gibbs worked at NCIS yet, but for the sake of the story I am saying he has just begun working there**) because she is daddy's little girl. That morning her mother was killed by one of the things she hunted (**This is NOT the Yellow-Eyed Demon**). Not long after, Vitalani discovered her powers and to save her, Gibbs trained her to protect herself against these evils because he knew that the things that were after Vitalani the day her mother was killed would come back.

When she turned eighteen, she joined the Marine Core and at 22 was put into one of the black ops divisions: G.I. Joe (**this will only be mentioned briefly in the story, it isn't a big part so don't become overly concerned with it**). This is also where she met her best friend, Electra's daughter, Kiara Natchios.

Two years later, Vitalani has been honorably discharged and has rejoined her father and friends at NCIS. She has become a well-respected member of the hunter community, and continues protecting the country she loves from the shadows. This is where our time with her will truly begin.

Vitalani has made a name for herself, and she has accepted the role she was destined to play. However, she will soon find out that her destiny has only been half revealed. Soon she will be thrown into a world even more dangerous than the one she has already come to know. S.H.I.E.D. wants her and her power, so she can help them do what she has already been doing her entire life: protect the planet, but it won't be that easy. Her past demons are coming back to claim what they lost all those years ago, and if Vitalani cannot stop them they will take away everything and everyone she loves.


	2. Prologue: The Beginning

**A/N: Whenever I (aka the Narrator) or a POV references Gibbs it will be referring to Jethro Gibbs not Vitalani. If another character says it, it could be either, but I will be sure to be clear which I am speaking of. Also Ducky in this chapter and in later ones knows all about Vitalani, her powers, her other job, and her mother. Ziva, Tony, McGee, and Abby know about her powers and her job, but not the entire story of her mother. Just thought I'd clear that up right now. **

**When you see just **_italics_**, this symbolizes a character's thoughts. When you see quotations and italics (**_"italics"_**), this symbolizes a quote or scene from the past. **

**The next few chapters will be a few cases Vitalani works with NCIS, and then she will begin her journey with the Avengers. RATINGS AND REVIEWS ENCOURAGED!**

Prologue: The Beginning

**Gibbs P.O.V. (May 26, 1995):**

I stepped out of the elevator, holding a cup of coffee in my left hand, and my eight year-old daughter's hand in my right. Recently discharged from the Marines, I have begun to work for a new organization called NCIS or Naval Criminal Investigative Service. We investigate crimes having to do with Marine and Navy soldiers and their families. Why? Because someone has to help protect the people who risk their lives protecting us. And who better for the job than a former Marine because as I'm sure everybody knows – there's no such thing as an ex-Marine.

I look down at little Tally. She was looking around the office with very cautious eyes. Vitalani is always looking for something out of the ordinary, expecting the unexpected. Where an eight year-old learned this I don't know, but I'd say from her mother. Of course, it's Shannon's job to expect the unexpected. My wife is a hunter. Her and her family have been keeping the world safe for generations from the things that lurk in the shadows. Am I happy about it? No. Do I know she has to do it? Sadly. Do I admire her for doing it? Yes, because I wouldn't give up a life with Shannon for anything in the world.

I sat my coffee at my desk and said hello to a few of my co-workers. Tally is carefully walking around the room almost like a cat does after it has been taken to a new home. I chuckled lightly to myself and began looking over some files that were left on my desk.

"So that's your little girl, huh?" asked my partner, Agent Henderson (**I don't know who his partner was so I just made one up!**).

I looked up and nodded my head, "That's Vitalani." The only one of my co-workers that has met my daughter is Doctor Donald "Ducky" Mallard, who she calls Uncle Ducky.

"She looks like she has a bit of fight in her. Are you already training her for the Marines, Gunny?" He joked. I lightly smiled at him. _No, but my wife is training her to protect herself, and she could probably put you on the floor_. I smirked to myself.

"No, she's just got some natural bite in her. That's all."

"Well, well what do we have here?" Out of the elevator comes the Scottish born, Doctor Mallard. "What is this beautiful young lady doing here today, Jethro?"

"She decided to come with her Dad to work instead of spending the day with her mother like she normally does," I explained. I thought proudly to myself, _she's Daddy's girl_.

"Uncle Ducky!" Vitalani shouted forgetting the clam cautious exterior she possessed up until a second ago. Henderson and I began discussing cases while Ducky told Tally some Norse legend about a god of thunder and his trickster brother. My partner and I were talking about a dead Marine who was found in an alley with 102 stab wounds to his torso when my phone rang.

"Agent Jethro Gibbs. NCIS," I said into the receiver.

"Mr. Gibbs, this is Detective Martinez (**another of my own characters, you won't have to remember him or Henderson. This will be their only appearance**). Sir, I'm sorry to report that your wife has been the victim of a car crash. She didn't make it, Sir."

I almost dropped the phone in shock. The words were just bouncing off the sides of my head, but my brain just couldn't seem to catch and decipher them. It's impossible. There's no way! I suppressed the anger and shock in my voice and asked through clenched teeth, "What happened?"

"That's the thing, Sir, we don't know. We've gone through every possible scenario, but nothing is adding up. Based on the eyewitness account of a few bikers who were nearby, there was a sound – something like a flutter – and suddenly there was this blinding white light. When the light cleared, the car was seen completely destroyed in a ditch with your wife inside. I've never heard of anything like it. It seems almost supernatural. Agent Gibbs, If you'd -" I hung up the phone as hard and fast as I could. _Damned it!_

I walked over to Ducky, who was still holding Vitalani, and asked if I could speak to him alone. _Keep it together, Jethro. You can't fall apart right now. Just keep calm and do what you've been told_. I explained to him what had happened. I almost broke at the look on his face. I asked him to watch Vitalani for a little while because there was something that I had to do. He nodded and went back to my little girl while I headed for the elevator.

I did not go to the site of the wreck, the hospital morgue, or to look for the evil sonofabitch that did this. No, I went home. Shannon always told me that if anything like this were to happen to her that I was to go to her jewelry box, take out a key she hid under the false bottom, and open a medium sized box she had hidden in a small concealed compartment in the closet. That box would explain everything.

_"Please Jethro, just in case. You will need this if anything ever happens. For Vitalani's sake, promise me you'll do this. Oh, thank you! I love you, Jethro."_

I blinked the tears of longing out of my eyes and completed the instructions. Inside was a bunch of papers, a rather large and old looking book, a small leather bound journal, and a letter addressed to me. This letter explained it all; all about the Levine's (**Shannon's maiden name in my story**). It explained about the book which holds the instructions for the training of a Levine hunter; things like self-defense training, Latin, gun and knife training, and it also contained the legends that made up the Levine clan, and the secrets they are meant to protect. The smaller one was Shannon's journal. This contains everything she, her parents, and her grandparents knew about the world of the supernatural and the things living in it. It explained about the list of other hunters I or Vitalani could call for help. What remained in the letter shocked me the most.

(Last paragraph of Shannon's letter)_ I know who killed me. Yes, I know what you are thinking. Out of all the things I hunt how do I know which one of them did me in? I know because they've been after my family for centuries, but my diary explains that. Listen, listen carefully. They didn't want to kill me, they want Vitalani. She has inherited a sacred power that is passed down in my family every couple of generations. I do not know when her powers will appear, but considering how strong she already is I'm guessing it will be soon. She's smart, Jethro. Most of what she'll need to know she can teach herself, but she will still need you. Help her help herself. These bastards don't give up, ever, and she needs to be ready. I'm counting on you to do what I can't. I'm sorry it can't be me. I love you, Jethro, and I'm so sorry for bringing you into this. Kiss my little girl for me. Jethro, don't forget – no matter what – you must continue living your life as the wonderful man you are. Don't argue and don't roll your eyes. Goodbye, my love. Say goodbye to my little lioness, too. _

_Love,_

_ Shannon Gibbs_

The tears cascaded down my face freely as the reality of the situation finally hit me. My wife is gone, and if I'm not careful then my beautiful baby girl will be too. I drop to my knees clutching the letter over the spot where my heart was breaking. I don't know how long I was like that. Minutes? Hours? I really don't know. Once I was able to move my body again, I stood up and gathered all the things my wife left for Vitalani and myself. I brought all these – except the journal which I left for Vitalani in her room – into the basement so I could look over them and learn about it all myself. Then I got into my 1974 midnight black Gran Torino (**look up the movie Gran Torino with Clint Eastwood, it is his car**) and went back to NCIS. I had to talk to Vitalani. I had a lot to explain. She had to be ready. No matter how much I wish it wasn't, it was time for her to join her family as a soldier; a soldier of the shadows.

**If you want to skip straight to the Avengers part of the story than you can skip the next three chapters because they are only NCIS cases Vitalani works with them! Keep reading please! It gets much much better.**


	3. Faking It

**A/N: This is an episode from season 4 of NCIS. Some of you will enjoy these chapters, and others will probably want me to just get straight to the Avengers. I promise, these chapters won't go on forever. Also remember that this story takes place after the Avengers movie, and Loki is now an Avenger. He saw the light and all that fun cliché stuff. Also I updated the background chapter to include the tattoos she has and the jewelry she will most often be wearing. To clarify something in the info: she joined the Marines at 18, but she didn't join G.I. Joe until she was 22. I will try to update once a week, if I continue getting reviews and subscriptions I might update more often, but if viewings go down it may less often. Okay enough of me, on to the story! Oh and don't forget RATE AND REVIEW!**

Faking It (October 10, 2011)

Vitalani's P.O.V.

16 years later (she is now 24 in case some of you suck at math)

_5:00 a.m._

"This separation makes a fool of you and I. Blank stares and credit cards allege the great divide. You think you're safe if -" SMACK.

I roll over onto my back and stared at the ceiling. _One of these days I will just smash that clock into oblivion._ I groggily stepped out from under my silk covers and made my way to the closet. I pulled out my running gear which consists of: black sweatpants, a black tank top, a grey Nike jacket, and white Nike sneakers. I left my dark room and walked down the hall into the bright, open living room. With the curtains pulled back, you could see the most spectacular view of Washington D.C. Turning away from the window, I grabbed my dark green IPod off the kitchen counter, put the headphones in, put the IPod in my armband **(the ones designated to hold IPods)**, and walked out the door of my third floor, two bedroom condo.

Once I got onto the street, I flipped my IPod on and randomized my running playlist. _Time to run._ Every morning I get up early to do a 10k (6.2 miles) – an old habit from my Marine days. Also I gotta stay in shape, lots of running in the hunting profession. My feet pound the pavement in time with Pillar, "Don't let emotion stop you, don't start to hesitate, don't let the fear you have inside you start to resonate…if you're afraid to fall you'll never make the climb. We are the fearless ones, we are the loaded guns. With nothing left to lose, we are the reckless youth. We are the chosen ones; we'll never have to run. With nothing left to lose, we are the reckless youth." This song virtually sums up my entire existence. Well, except for the whole never having to run part because I am not kidding about the amount of running hunters/agents do.

It's been six months since I've moved back to the D.C. area, six months since I've started working at NCIS, and six months since I've resumed hunting. To tell you the truth, I've saved more people in the six months that I've been back than I ever did in the Marines. Don't get me wrong, the Marines are a great group of people, but killing people to save people is a lot different than killing evil things to save people. That's what makes hunting so rewording, you are saving people, but you don't have to kill other people to do it. Sure some people deserve to die, but in war it is hard to tell if the person you're killing really deserves it or not. "Stop wasting our time, let's step to the line. Like soldiers we fight to the end of our lives. Let's break the rules, but don't play the fool cause we are…"

I finish my job at 5:58 a.m. I run up the stairs to my condo and start my coffee (**she is her father's daughter**). While it brews, I go to my room, strip off my sweaty clothes, and head to the bathroom. I turn the shower on and step in. The scalding water quickly washes away the October chill that had previously plagued my bones. I quickly wash up then turn off the shower, step out, and wrap myself in a black towel.

Walking back into my red and black, gothic style bedroom, I go to my dresser and pull out a pair of dark wash skinny jeans and a long-sleeved, blood red shirt. I pull these on and return to the large, gold and marble bathroom. I blow dry my hair and pull it up into a black hair claw (**it looks like the hair in the picture of her from back in the info. If you don't know what a hair claw is then look it up on Google Images**). I applied some eyeliner and mascara (**once again look at the** **picture**) and that's about all because I'm an agent and not Paris Hilton just in case you were confused. I brush my teeth and apply a little lipstick then head back to my room.

Finishing off my outfit, I got and get my jewelry from the box on my dresser (**the jewelry is described in the info and the necklace for this one is the witch's ruins**). Sitting on my queen sized bed, I attach my knives to my caves with Velcro knife straps. I finish off my outfit by pulling on my gray leather boots that end an inch below the knee.

In the kitchen, my coffee is finished brewing and it was time for me to get going. I put my coffee in a large black thermas, grab my black leather jacket, my .50 caliber eagle, and my bag and keys. I head out the door down to the parking garage. There awaited me my '74 Gran torino that my dad gave me for my eighteenth birthday. I got in, turned the stereo to 92.1 the Blaze (**yes, I know it doesn't exist anymore, but it was a good rock station, so now it does**), and I made my way to NCIS.

_7:00 a.m._

Tony is the only other person there when I arrive. I wave at him, and then place myself at my desk and just sit enjoying the momentary peace which is unusual especially with Tony around.

I hear the elevator door open from behind me, and McGee and Ziva's conversation fills the room. I hear only a fear words that all seem to focus on the central theme of lies. "What about lying," DiNozzo asked suddenly very interested in the two's discussion. I rolled my eyes. _Here we go_.

McGee answered him saying, "Ziva seems to think that all men are liars." _Not a horrible observation_.

This gets Tony really interested and he begins telling Ziva that what she thinks isn't true and that even if it was, men are better liars than women, and so she couldn't know that men are liars. Ziva turns on him and says she can tell when someone is lying better than he could. Tony, of course, thinks of this as a challenge and gives Ziva three statements and tells her to tell him which were lies and which weren't. _They all were_.

"They are all lies, Tony," Ziva responds calmly and quickly. DiNozzo's jaw drops in astonishment. _Come on Tony. It wasn't like they were that hard. Moron._

DiNozzo of course wants to know how Ziva knew he was lying, but she just turns his back and comes over to my desk, "Hello, Vitalani."

A pissed off Tony walks over to his desk and goes to sit down when I use my powers to move the chair back causing him to fall on his ass. I smirk, "Hey, Ziva. What's up?" I ask, but before she gets to answer my father comes out of the director's office with a file in his hand.

"Gear up, we've got a dead Marine," he says while taking another swig of his coffee. All of us grab our bags, and Dad and Tony each grab a set of keys. I go with Dad, McGee and Ziva go with Tony.

We arrive at the crime scene to see Uncle Ducky and Palmer already examining the body. "Now this is quite interesting," Ducky mutters to himself as the team walks up to wreckage sight.

"What is, Ducky," my dad asked.

"This young man lived much longer than he should have. He should have bled out long before he died," Ducky stated, still not taking his eyes off the corpse.

"Who is he?" asked Dad.

One of the officers that was already at the crime scene said, "According to his military I.D. he is Chief Petty Officer Jack T. Vale."

Dad's nod was the only response he received. The team began processing the scene, but what interested me the most was the bag of coins that was in the passenger seat. "There must be $50 or $60 here," I estimated looking inside the bag before handing it to McGee.

"Why would somebody be caring that much money in change?" Ziva asked.

"Maybe he was really good at those slot machines," Tony joked. Ziva, McGee, Dad, and I all turned and looked at him with less than amused faces. "What?"

I roll my eyes and turn my attention back to the crime scene. I finally got a good look at the windshield and saw NCIS written across it…in blood. "Oh, now that's just creepy," I say with a slight shudder. Messages written in blood are never good signs and knowing your organization was the last thing on a man's mind before he died is just plain disturbing.

"Do you want to talk to the suspect?" asked one of the two officers.

Every last one of the people there stopped what they were doing and turned to face the two. "You have a suspect?" asked Gibbs.

"We pulled this man over right before the Officer's car crashed into our own. He has a gun in his glove compartment and he's Russian. Those three things together make him look good for this don't you think?" the officer responded.

Dad and I looked at each other and then walked to the patrol car to talk to the man sitting in the back. We introduced ourselves and got nothing but a wish to be released in return. We received his identification from the officers, and it said that he was an American citizen. However, I know that a man with that thick of an accent couldn't possibly have been born here. Ziva and Tony begin arguing about what the man's identification could mean about him. My father ignored them and asked me to interrogate him.

I asked the man his name in many different languages in an effort to confuse him. I started in Spanish then moved through Arabic, Hebrew, Mandarin, Japanese, and finally Russian. This last one triggered an instinct reaction from the man. "Well at least we know he's Russian," I say back to my father who just smirks in response.

McGee called Abby and asked her to run the man's ID through the immigration database. She does and the results are not what we expected. "He's wanted by homeland security?" Tony repeats the results of Abby's findings, still trying to comprehend exactly what it is he heard. _That's right, Tony, just sound out the big words_. What can I say? Tony can get on my nerves just as easily as he can get on Ziva's.

We ride back to NCIS with the man, Nikolai Puchenko, and continue working on the case; first, we playback the 911 call that Petty Officer Vale placed right before he died. In this message he says that he has spotted a terrorist. "How would he know that," I asked. I'm more confused now than when we started. There is not possible way he could know that that man is a terrorist.

"He's Marine, Tally. Someone probably told him about this guy," Tony answered as if he actually knew what he was talking about which he obviously doesn't.

"Vale works in Supply, Tony. Who would have told him about a terrorist," Ziva responded obviously understanding what I was getting at.

"Well, there may be one reason," Dad started. "The case files on for the original Russian terrorist case have gone missing."

"It just can't ever be easy can it?" I sigh asking my dad.

He smirks down at me and ruffles my hair as if I'm ten years old again, "You'd be bored in two seconds flat if it was."

"…Shut up."

"What are we going to do without the files?" asked McGee. Dad didn't respond instead he just walked over to his desk, picked up the phone, and started dialing. I knew who he was calling. He was calling the one man who would know anything about Russian terrorists in this country...or any terrorist for that matter: Mike Franks, my dad's old mentor. Dad spends a few minutes on the phone only saying a few words here and there.

I grow restless and go down to autopsy to visit with Uncle Ducky and see if he has found anything more about what happened to Vale. I step into the cold, white room and exclaimed, "Hey, Uncle Ducky. Hey, Palmer."

"Hello, Vitalanai. I'm assuming you are here on business and not a social call," Ducky asked pocking at Vale's exposed liver.

"Sadly, yes. We need something to jump start us on this investigation. Everything we find out about this man or Puchenko just makes everything more confusing!" I rant which is one of my…less than attractive qualities.

"Well, my findings are only going to add to your confusion my dear. I can't seem to find the bullet that killed our friend. And without that bullet, there is no way to connect this shooting with that Russian man," he explained. Wow, he seems almost more frustrated than Dad. _Now I feel sorry for Palmer._

"Thanks, Uncle Ducky. I'll let Dad know. It's nine already, I'm just going to head home for the evening. We will all be able to do better for Vale after we get some sleep," I decided. I kiss Ducky on the cheek, wave to Palmer, and make my way back upstairs.

I arrive upstairs to see everyone gone, but, of course, my father. I walk over to him and sit on the side of his desk. He looks up at me from the corner of his eye, "Yes?"

"Go home."

"Why?" Great conversational skills, right?

"Because continually obsessing over this isn't going to help us solve the case. You need to go home and get some sleep. And when I say go home and get some sleep, I don't mean go home and work on your boat. I mean sleep!" I exclaim obviously knowing my father's habits far too well.

"When you're on a hunt you hardly ever sleep," he pointed out. One of these days he is going to figure out that I can't be beat.

"Yes, but in those cases there is something evil that is going to continue killing people if I don't stop it. There is a very good chance that we have our killer in lockup. You lose. Go home." I say. Oh, how much I love to win!

Dad just sighs and stands up, grabbing his bag in the process. I grin, kiss him on the cheek, and grab my own stuff. We both walk out of the NCIS building and part ways, going to our individual vehicles.

I unlock my apartment, walk in, and turn on the lights. I sigh looking around. There isn't a lot I regret about my life. I don't regret becoming a hunter, I don't regret becoming a marine, and I don't regret killing the things I've had to kill. However, I hate coming home to an empty apartment. I know I have my dad and friends at NCIS, but honestly I've always felt so alone. That's the one thing I do regret; the lack of love in my life. I'm not trying to complain, honestly I'm not. It would just be nice to have somebody that I could share the fears, secrets, and thoughts with, the ones that I could not even tell my father, Ziva, or Kiara.

I shake my head feeling foolish. I don't like feeling sorry for myself. It makes me weak and petty, two things I don't want to be. I walk into my room, change into my pajamas which consist of black shorts and a purple tank top, and go to bed.

_May 11, 2011_

I wake up the next morning ready to take on the Russian terrorist case again. I do my morning routine (**this will refer to everything that happened at the beginning of this chapter: running, showering, make-up, etc.**). I was dressed in dark boot cut jeans and a short sleeved, emerald green shirt (**Unless I say differently she will always have her gun and knives**). I got on my jewelry, grabbed my coffee and bag, and headed for NCIS.

I got up the elevator, walked in the room, and stopped. Standing there, in the middle of NCIS headquarters was Mike Franks. I look to my father who was speaking to Franks with what can be simply described as a _WHAT THE F*** _look. He walked over and said, "Franks, you remember my daughter, right?"

"Of course I do. Although the last time I saw her she still didn't know how to do a proper roundhouse kick," he joked. I look at him and thought _I was seven the last time you saw me you ass hat. _

"I know how to now. Wanna see?" I ask with nothing less than disdain in my voice. I don't like Franks. Never have and I definitely never will.

"Franks is here to help us with this case. He was a part of the original case – Operation Sunburst. No one knows more about what we're going up against. Which means you and Ziva have to let him live until we have our guy behind bars," Dad said, a clear warning in his eyes. I walk away mumbling profanities under my breath like a good little sailor. Tony and McGee sit in their chairs, laughing behind their hands. Cue flying staplers to the head. I love telekinesis. I can lift up to three hundred and fifty pounds with my mind, and send it flying at a speed of 300 miles per hour. If my dad wasn't here those two would be out the window and half way to the concrete by now.

Ziva and I begin examining other aspects of this case when suddenly the doors to the elevator open and out comes some guy in a very expensive suit. _Crap. The goon squad has released the watchdog._ I hate Feds!

"I'm Roy Carver from Homeland Security. I could give a care less who you are unless your name is Gibbs," he said. Gibbs, huh? Mistake number one, you idgit!

"Well, I suggest you get specific cause you got two of those," Tony said. What can I say? No one at NCIS likes Feds, and it tends to work the other way around too.

"Let me rephrase. I want Nikolai Puchenko. You people are going to give him to me because he is our asset. Not yours," Carver viciously demanded.

"Let me rephrase Tony then Mr. Carver. Bite me," I responded. Only since I'm always eager to be the bigger person I said it with a more snarky tone.

"You know-" he was cut off by Director Shepard from up above.

"Jethro, Franks my office now!" she demanded. Why the hell should Franks be going up there? _Because he knows more about these people than anybody…damn it._

"You really shouldn't try and play with the big boys you know that? You could get hurt," Carver taunted at me. I did nothing but sit back on the edge of my desk and stare at him. He looked confused and tried a few more times to get a response out of me, but I just stared and he began getting nervous and walked away. Cue the smirking.

Gibbs P.O.V.

"No," I said after Jenny told me that we would have to give up Puchenko. "For two reasons: one this is our case and two I'm not going to be ordered around by a couple of monkeys in suits."

"What you think doesn't matter, Gibbs. The Feds have more jurisdiction than we do over terrorists and they probably have a better case. They can handle this better."

Franks intervened at this point, "Ma'am with all due respect, we can't give them this man. If you do you will never see him again, and they won't get justice for that poor Marine downstairs in the cooler."

Jenny paused for a moment really debating what to do. "You sure?"

"Yes."

"Fine, I'll tell Homeland Security that they can't have him. You have twenty-four hours to make some headway on this case. If you don't than I will have to hand him over to the Feds."

Franks and I let her know we understand and went to give the good news to Carver. Then Franks stops me and says that he has copies of the case files on audiotape, so he can review them tonight and let me know if there's anything that we could find useful. I was about to tell him to hand over the tapes and let me and my team examine them, but know that it would only be wasted breath and let it go.

Vitalani's POV

My father came down the stairs with Franks and told Carver that we were keeping Puchenko. I considered a happy dance, but thought better of it. Dad and Franks decided it was time for them to interrogate Puchenko. Dad said Franks was going because he knows the right buttons to push with these guys. I say if Franks wants to do our job than he should apply.

I watch the interview with Tony and even though I'm hesitant to admit it – and God help him if he ever finds this out – but Franks actually knows what he is doing. Franks asks him all about his mission and his boss, a man named Arkady. This struck a nerve with Puchenko and he threatens to kill Frank in Russian. I speak Russian to remember! _Would it be considered treason to give this man a gun to let him follow through on that? Probably._

All of us, plus McGee and Ziva, go down to autopsy to check in with Ducky. We get there and he tells us that the he has realized where the bullet is.

"Where was it, Ducky?" Tony asked looking over Petty Officer Vale's body.

"You won't find it looking there. It isn't where WAS it, Tony, its where IS it. The reason I have been unable to find the bullet is because it isn't in the body. If you recall, at the scene I said that the man had lived much longer than he should have. This is because he expelled the bullet from his body. He vomited it back up!" Ducky exclaimed. I choked down a bit of bile in my throat as well. Why Uncle Ducky gets excited about this stuff I will never know.

"Ziva, McGee, both of you will go back to the crime scene and examine the surrounding areas. Find me that bullet!" Dad demands and Ziva and McGee book it out of there. Dad left the autopsy room and it was then that I realized Franks was gone too. Tony and I followed my dad out and found him talking to a smoking Franks under the stairwell.

Dad had obviously said something that had pissed Franks off because his response was, "Where'd you learn to be such a pain in the ass?"

"From working with you!" my dad responded in a way that sounded like 'what other explanation could there be and how did you possibly miss that?'

"Careful, Dad. That tone is why wife number two came at you with a seven-iron," I remind him mostly because it's fun. I hated wife number three and one, but two was kind of entertaining.

"Not funny," he responded

"Kind of funny. What are you two fighting over anyway?"

"I'm trying to get Mike to let Tony be his bodyguard for the night. After that threat Puchenko made I – why are you laughing?" Dad asked me suddenly aware of the fact that I'm doubled over finding something he said very amusing.

"Tony a bodyguard? Sorry, but won't that cause more problems than solutions?" I asked. Come on, Tony's I.Q. is roughly the equivalent of a very stupid rock. Tony gave me an annoyed look, and I just gave him a smirk.

"No, and it's happening whether you like it or not Franks." Dad walked away, always having the last word.

Ziva's POV

McGee and I arrived at the general area we believe Vale was at when he placed the 911 call which is when we think he vomited up the bullet. We were walking around the approximated area when we both hear a familiar noise. It is the sound of a coin machine, the same noise that was on the call Vale made!

"It's coming from over here!" McGee yelled. We ran around the corner and sure enough there was a coin counting machine which is consistent with the coins we found in Vale's car.

"This must be the area where Vale saw Puchenko. Now which way did he go?" I wondered. McGee and I rounded the block and found a parking lot, and on the ground is vomit.

Tony's POV

I arrived at the safe house where Franks is staying around ten p.m. _I can't believe I'm stuck babysitting a man who is older than I am. Hell a man older than Gibbs is._ I quickly guard the back of my head to soften the blow of Gibbs' hand on it when I realized he was nowhere near here. Oh and he can't read my thoughts or can he? I've never been quite sure about that one.

I enter the house calling out Franks' name to let him know that it was me who was there, but I receive no answer. I remove my gun from its holster still calling out for Franks. I round the corner into the hallway when I hear a noise from behind me. The next thing I know I feel a sharp pain to my head and I enter darkness.

Vitalani's POV

"In this town, don't we love it now? Everyone's waiting for the next surprise! Skeleton Jack might catch you in the back and -"

"Hello?" I ask, picking up my phone from beside me on the couch. Who would call me at 12:30 a.m.?

"Vitalani, it's your father. Get down to the safe house. DiNozzo didn't check in at midnight like he was instructed, so I came down here. He was unconscious and Franks is missing!" My father sounded angry. Remember he's never hysterical, just angry.

"I'll be right there."

Twenty minutes later I'm standing outside the safe house with my Dad examining the house while paramedics look at Tony. We emerge from the house, finding nothing. Dad asked the paramedic how Tony is. "He'll live," he responded jokingly.

"I have been hit harder before, boss. By you," Tony responded with a smile on his face. I choked on my own laughter and my dad turned his head with a proud smile on his face.

Once they let Tony go we all walked back to our cars discussing the case. Tony is sure this is the act of a snatch team. Dad and I aren't so sure, but that's because we know Franks. My phone begins ringing again and both Dad and Tony look at me with raised eyebrows. "So my ringtone is 'This is Halloween?' I thought you all already knew I was a freak. Gibbs," I answer my phone. I listen for a few seconds and then hang up.

"That was Ziva. She and McGee found the bullet in a pile of blood under the dumpster. We need to get to NCIS." There were no questions we all just got in our cars and headed for the office.

Upon arrival we are greeted with a less than happy sight. Carver is standing in the middle of our office. He sees us exit the elevator and immediately begins making demands for us to hand over Puchenko.

"We've got a bullet you ass hat. He's ours," I respond not caring that he's a fed or that he is technically my superior.

Unknown POV

"Is this Arkady? Yes, I know who you are and I have something you want; copies of the case files that you stole. I'd be willing to give them to you…for a price."

Vitalani's POV

My father and I enter interrogation where Puchenko is. He gets up and demands that we release him because we have nothing to charge him on. "This is a country full of freedoms; you can't just lock me up like a prisoner without cause. Not in the land of the free," he smirks at us like he just found some major loophole. People always think that land of the free means free. No it is America Land of the Free: Some restrictions may apply. Got to read the fine print people!

"We have the bullet. Now here's what is going to happen, we are going to charge you with murder and I'm telling you right now that the United States does not look fondly upon terrorists. You will be sitting in a cell at Gitmo (**Guantanamo Bay for those of you who have been living under rocks**) for the rest of your life. Or you could help us and we can make sure that you end up in a different prison for the rest of your life. I'm assuming you do know what happens to people at Guantanamo?" I asked. What can I say I don't do the monkey dance around the subject thing that most cops do.

"What do you want?" He responded. I do love a criminal who knows when he's been beat.

"Where's Arkady?" Dad asked. Puchenko tried to tell us that he didn't know, but in the end he told us. We exited the room and went to catch ourselves a terrorist.

We arrive at the bar that Puchenko told us that Arkady would be at. We got inside and saw Franks and Arkady at the same table. My dad and I looked at each other and nodded. We moved around the bar cautiously, looking for any other men that could have come with Arkady. Franks hands the terrorist something, and he stands up. Suddenly two men move toward Franks drawing their guns.

I reacted quickly coming from my hiding place among the shadows and breaking the necks of one of the gunmen. My father had shot the other and when I looked around to find Arkady I see that Franks had already shot him.

I walk over to my father and Franks just as Dad asked him, "You set yourself up as bait didn't you?"

"I was just repaying a debt. Oh by the way, tell your friend I'm sorry about his head. Hope it didn't hurt too badly," Franks revealed and then hands Dad the case file tapes and casually walked out of the bar. That bastard was the one who hit Tony. I really, really hate that guy.

Dad and I had to wait around for the feds to show up and explain everything that happened. Carver looked stunned when he heard that we had captured, well killed, Arkady. I enjoy seeing that man stunned.

I followed Dad out to his car and he dug out the tapes Franks gave him. Remember: what the feds don't know can't hurt them. He put them in the cassette player that was in his car and what came out was just music. The tapes were fakes. They were just a ruse to draw out Arkady. I may hate Franks, but I never said he was stupid.

I returned to my condo after saying goodbye to my father. _Another case solved, another bad guy rotting in the pits of Hell_, I think to myself. I sit myself on the couch too awake to fall asleep. Not that this is anything new, I hardly sleep as it is. I turned on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air because after a day like this I need a good laugh. I look around the condo and my eyes land on a picture of my best friend and I at our military base.

_I haven't seen or even talked to Kiara in a while_ I suddenly realize. I heard that she had joined some government organization known as S.H.E.I.L.D. She was in a group called the Avengers or something like that. She explained it to me after she first got in. It's a group that of superheroes that's main purpose is to save the world. Something I already do by hunting. Kiara said that my skills as a hunter and my powers of telekinesis could get me in if the whole working with my dad thing didn't work out. I dismissed the idea because I know that a group as advanced and important as that would never want or need someone like me. I can hardly stay in one place for very long because of hunting, and trust has never come easy for me. A team needs trust. Not to mention I'm more trouble than I'm worth. Downside of hunting: every evil creature in existence is after your sorry behind.

_Maybe I'll call her sometime and see how she's doing. Maybe she finally found a guy that can tolerate her crazy self. _I laugh and go to the fridge and grab a bottle of Pepsi then resume my place on the couch watching television as if I was any other normal person.


	4. Witch Hunt

**A/N: Only one more chapter until Vatalani meets the Avengers. The next chapter will be her last official case with NCIS. After that I will be able to focus more on Vitalani as a person; her trials, fears, dreams, and all that stuff. I know these chapters seem like I am more focusing on the cases, but that is because Vitalani in these chapters sees herself only as soldier, not as though she means something. Also Agent Coulson is alive in this story. Thedoctorsrealwife (author of Blades of Iron) and I find him more useful dead than alive…plus we really miss him! If you've got a problem with this, you are a cold heartless bastard and I hate you. Enjoy the story!**

Witch Hunt (October 31st, 2011)

Vitalani's POV

It was 7:30 p.m. and I was just finishing up some paperwork from the previous case my team worked. I gingerly reached up and rubbed my right shoulder which had begun to ache…again. I got hurt in a hunt a couple of days ago.

_Flashback:_

_I was in Fort Dodge, Iowa investigating the mysterious death of several runaway teens in the area. What was mysterious about them? They were eaten. Cops were saying it that they had probably just pissed off a local gang who was setting up the scene to make it only look like they had been eaten. No, they were eaten. I've seen this before. Rakshasa. They are demons of chaos from Hindu myth and frankly a big pain in the ass. It took me a week to figure out exactly how this one was getting away with it. It turns out that this guy had been impersonating a cop for over 137 years. When parents would report that their children had disappeared he'd find them and kill them. This was frankly an ingenious plan because most people would think exactly what the cops thought. What sucks for this guy is that I'm not most people. Rakshasa sleep on beds of insects and that is how I found this crazy sonofabitch. He had been sleeping in the basement of the police station, and since nobody went down there nobody knew. The second he knew I was in the station that night he came after me. Now you are all thinking that it should have been easy, right? WRONG! Rakshasa have the ability to turn invisible, so after an hour of fighting and searching I was able to pin him and stab him with a copper dagger. Saved a young girl that he had just kidnapped for a midnight snack. This job may be hard, but it is almost always worth it in the end._

Damned thing got me a few times during the fight, but the only serious injury was when he dug his nasty claws into my shoulder! Oh well, it's a slow night so I should be able to leave soon. I look over at Tony and Ziva who, besides my Dad who is with the director, are the only two left in the building. Of course, when aren't we? Ziva is also planning on leaving early today and voices as much. However, Tony tells her that she shouldn't even bother trying. "This isn't just a child's holiday, Ziva. It's Halloween. Weird stuff happens on October 31st. You have grave robbings, beheadings, cattle mutilations, and all sorts of just creepy stuff." Tony explains.

"Demons, demons I get, but people…they're just crazy," I mutter my catch phrase under my breath while I continue working. Then McGee walked into the room…buttoning up his shirt?

"What you got in the bag, Probie?" Tony asks trying to sneak a peek. "Trying to hide a costume?"

McGee tries to deny it, but once Tony gets the bag from him he can't. Inside the bag is a snow elf costume. I bite my lip to stop the laughter while Tony tries on the gloves and Ziva the hat. They look absolutely ridiculous.

Suddenly Dad comes down the stairs telling us to gear up because we've got a case. He turns around and stops in his tracks at the sight of Tony and Ziva in McGee's costume. McGee tries to explain that he was on his way to a costume party. "Not anymore, Elf Lord. General Custer has been shot and there's a dead skeleton in his living room," Dad tells him. I couldn't breathe I was laughing so hard.

Tony's response, "What did I tell you? Halloween!" He isn't completely wrong. As a hunter, I know just how weird Halloween can get. Remind me to tell you about the time I had to stop a witch from trying to raise the spirit of Edgar Allan Poe because she thought he was her master. Good times, good times.

We arrive at the crime scene and find out that Sergeant Erik Niles aka Custer was brought to the hospital for emergency surgery. Everyone had begun taking witness statements when Ducky and Palmer finally arrived in the truck…which was covered in raw eggs.

"Sorry we're late. We had a run in with the local youths," Ducky explains getting out of the truck.

"We can see that," replies Dad.

McGee asks if they got a look at the kids who did it and Ducky responds, "Oh, we did better than that. Release the captives, Mr. Palmer!"

Out of the back of the truck comes three mumbling teens whom Ducky hands towels and window cleaner. Tony praises Palmer on a job well done to which Palmer responds, "It wasn't me. It was all Doctor Mallard. He chased them for three blocks!"

All of us slowly turn around and look at Ducky with incredulous looks. "What?" he asks. "It's not as though they are real ninjas." I look at my father with a smile and a raised eyebrow and got a smirk in return.

Ziva, who was talking to Niles' neighbor, comes over with some news. His wife is nowhere to be found and the woman isn't sure where their daughter, Sarah, was. However, since she could be with her mother we decided to leave the issue alone for the moment. _Hope she's alright_ I think to myself. Kids are always so hard to handle. I can't tell you how many times I've had to pull myself together on hunts when they evil bastards are after children.

I shake my head as if to get those thoughts out of my mind and join Tony, McGee, and Palmer in processing the scene. When I arrive at the house, McGee has his gun drawn and Tony says that they think there is someone else in the house that is tampering with the crime scene. "You think the skeleton man's ghost has been left behind to haunt the place?" I ask sarcastically while slapping Tony upside the head.

"Someone besides the dead guy," McGee explains. _Really? I never would have guessed._ Of course, for all I know it could have been the dead guy, but I'm never too eager to jump to conclusions.

Dad and Ducky enter the house and Dad asks McGee to tell him what he thinks happened her. McGee says he knows there was a fight, but he isn't sure how the skeleton's neck got to be in such a strange position. "Let me show you," I say and instruct McGee to lie on the floor. "This is how Marine's silence enemy sentries. Sixty-six pounds of pressure and SNAP!" I pin McGee to the floor and snap his head to demonstrate the process of breaking someone's neck. I have to admit, that is one of my favorite moves.

Suddenly I hear a yelp from behind me. All of us whip around to see Tony, who is screaming about something moving under the couch. I look closely and sure enough I can see movement from under there. I tell the others and Tony, being the strong, brave man he is, jumps up on the coffee table. I gave him a look that said, _really?_ Then from under the couch appears one of those self-vacuums – a Roomba.

"That thing is going to tamper with my crime scene," Ducky exclaims. That's all Dad had to hear. He stalks up behind the thing and stomps on it, completely demolishing the small vacuum.

"Poor guy never had a chance," I say shaking my head, smiling.

Ziva came into the house and tells us that one of the witnesses had seen a Chrysler Sebring parked outside the house earlier. She says she has put a BOLO out on the car. No sooner had those words left her mouth when the door to the house slammed open. Inside ran a more than hysterical woman who I am going to go ahead and assume is Mrs. Laurie Niles. Upon seeing the body bag on the gurney she collapses in shock. Another woman, who introduces herself as Laurie's sister, goes to her and hugs her telling her it's going to be all right. My dad clarifies that the man in the body bag is not her husband and tells her that Mr. Niles is in surgery. Gibbs asks Mrs. Niles about her daughter, and her response breaks my heart. "She was with her father."

"Amber alert. On it boss!" Tony yells before Dad gets the chance to give him that same order.

Mrs. Niles is more than certain her daughter has been kidnapped. "Are you sure that she wouldn't have just run off during the struggle?" I ask trying to be optimistic.

She assures me that Sarah would have called her if she was able to. Then Mrs. Niles' phone rings and it may be Sarah. Dad tells her to put the phone on speaker. A little girl's voice is heard on the other end asking for her mommy. I can feel the cracks in my heart widen as she says that they hurt her dad and she tried to call the police, but the man stopped her. Laurie tries to assure her daughter that everything will be okay when a disguised voice comes over the speaker. The man says that they have her daughter and that she is to wait for further instructions. _So there is more than one kidnapper_, I determine because of the fact that the man said they and not I.

Dad orders McGee, Tony, and I to get back to the office and see if Ducky anything on our dead skeleton. He and Ziva are going to stay there and wait for the kidnappers to call back. The three of us head back to the office to find that Ducky has removed the make-up off our dead friend. The preliminary cause of death is blunt force trauma according to him.

Tony tells Ducky that we need an ID ASAP because this man is the only link to the missing girl. _Oh you are so not my father_. One of these days Tony is going to realize that the only other person who can pull off orders like my father is me. Ducky tells Tony that there is no way to identify the man because he has no distinguishing marks. He has sent the man's prints to Abby, but she is not here and is not answering her phone.

"Halloween is a big night for Abby," McGee says. There was a call on the morgue phone and Palmer answers than quickly tells us that Abby has arrived.

We head to the lab and once we enter Tony and McGee's jaws drop all the way to the floor. Abby is dressed in her Halloween costume: Marilyn Monroe from the famous subway gate scene. She apologizes for being late; she says she couldn't hear her phone. "You figure it would be quieter in a cemetery," she explains. Yeah, I should have figured that one.

I notice that Tony and McGee have yet to move. I roll my eyes and think to myself _men. _"I like your costume Abbs. What about you guys? What do you think?" I ask putting the two drooling idiots on the spot. What? I get to have fun every once in a while.

Tony finally snaps out of his daze and shakily tells Abby that they need to get an ID from the photo we took of the dead guy. McGee still hasn't moved. Abby asked him what was wrong. "You look different," was the best response he could muster. Abby just smiles at him and turns back to her computer. I tell them all goodbye and decide to head back to the Niles' residence to help Dad and Ziva.

I arrive to hear Laurie saying that she can't just sit still, she has to do something. I feel for the poor woman, I can only imagine what she's going through. I walk in and let her know that we are doing everything in our power to get her little girl back. I show her the picture of the skeleton and ask if she's ever seen the man before. She hasn't.

Dad, Ziva, and I step out of the room leaving Laurie with her sister. Ziva tells Dad that she thinks Laurie is holding something back. Dad agrees and takes us upstairs to Laurie and Erik's room and shows us the closet. Mr. Niles hasn't been living at home. Dad sends Ziva to find out way. _What the hell is going on in this house?_

I looked at my Dad and notice a far off look in his eyes. This case was stressing him, and I think Ducky and I are the only ones on the team who know why. He sees himself in Laurie's position. No spouse around to comfort you and a kid whose life is in constant danger; that is something that my father can relate to…no matter how much I wish it wasn't. I lean up and press a kiss to his cheek and give him a small side hug that he returns. There is no way I can ever express how grateful I am to him, nothing I say ever seems like enough, but I think he knows it. I like that about my dad.

Gibbs POV

Vitalani and I arrived back downstairs to find Laurie pacing the room saying that she wants to talk to husband.

"He is still in surgery," Vitalani explains. "But we will get him on the phone as soon as we possibly can."

Laurie's sister tries to calm her down again. Laurie smacks away the hand her sister reached out to her with and tells her to stop touching her. She turns around and walks to the kitchen. I follow her in and just stand next to her for a few minutes, leaning against the counter.

"I understand what you're going through," I say softly after awhile.

"Did you ever have a daughter kidnapped?" she asks with tears in her eyes.

I gaze into the living room, looking at Tally who is calmly speaking to the sister, trying to get all the information she can to help save this little girl. "Kidnapped, stabbed, shot, gone missing – you name it, she's been through it," I say trying to keep the memories of all the things that have happened to Vitalani from flooding back.

She followed my gaze and looked at Vitalani for a moment, "That's your daughter?"

I nod in response and she says, "She is a beautiful girl. Nice and respectful. You must be very proud." Her voice contains an unmistakable hint of longing.

I look at her with all the possible seriousness someone could posses, "We will get your daughter back, Ma'am." She only nods. I can tell she believes that we will try, but not that we will succeed.

Vitalani's POV

Dad comes back into the room with Laurie. Both of them look like they have been on an emotional rollercoaster that took a pit stop in Hell. I was about to ask him what had happened when Ziva came back with the information we needed. She says someone named Scuttle Butt said Niles had caught Laurie cheating on him. Dad and I both choked on our own laughter.

"Scuttlebutt isn't a person, Ziva. It is a Marine slang term for gossip," I explain still trying not to break out laughing. She responds with a blush and complains about all the weird terms people in this country use. Welcome to America: We do not speak English here, we speak American. If you don't know what I mean than you have obviously never talked to an American.

Our conversation was cut off by the phone ringing. Dad tells Laurie to stay calm and make sure to ask to speak to Sarah. Ziva and I set up a trace on her laptop. Laurie answers the phone and the disguised voice is on the other end. He refuses to let Laurie speak to Sarah. He tells her to get $100,000 in small bills. She has until dawn. He hangs up – there wasn't enough time to run a trace.

Dad tells Laurie she needs to level with us about what was going on between her and her husband. She says that right before the wedding, Erik had broken off the engagement. She was so upset that she ended up having a one night stand with an ex-boyfriend. Basically, she doesn't know who Sarah's real father is. The only reason her husband even found out was because that old boyfriend turned up on their doorstep last month asking for a paternity test. The name of the boyfriend is Robert Miller according to her.

Dad calls McGee and Tony and tells them to find this guy, and fast. Also he wants the ID of the John Doe in an hour. "Do you think this Miller could have done this?" I ask Laurie. She isn't sure. Her sister sends her upstairs to get some rest, and we get a call from Tony saying they used Laurie's phone records and found our guy.

A half an hour later, we were walking Robert Miller, who was dressed as a Klingon, through the front doors of NCIS. We didn't find Sarah at his apartment, but outside of it one of the cars from the party he was hosting was a Chrysler Sebring. Inside were a piece of burnt paper and a sparkling piece of cloth from Sarah's fairy princess costume. We are bringing him into the interrogation room when I get a call from Ziva. Laurie left the house. _Okay, I repeat: what the hell is going on here?_ I let Dad know what has happened. He rubs the back of his neck and just walks into the interrogation room. He sits down across from Miller who keeps asking him what has happened to Sarah. Dad just keeps staring at him. McGee says that he is starting to really freak him out. I just smile at him and turn my attention back to the two people in the room beyond the glass.

Dad continues doing this for forty minutes. From all the things this man has said I'm pretty sure he isn't the one who took Sarah. I know Dad is thinking the same thing.

"You are all wasting time! Someone has kidnapped my daughter and all you're doing is sitting here staring. Aren't you going to do something?" he screams at my father.

"Alleged," is all my father says, referencing the fact that Sarah is only his alleged daughter.

"My daughter or not, I know that she is Laurie's daughter which means I care what happens to her."

Yeah there is no way this guy took that sweet little girl, and my dad knows it. I look at my dad closely. No, he's waiting for something. What could it be? My dad's phone goes off and he answers and leaves the room.

We head down to the lab because Abby has ID'ed the dead skeleton. His name is Lee Varon. Dad says he wants to know everything about this guy from his birth until Ducky cut him wide upon. Tony and McGee just stand there and all I can think is _move morons, move or you're going to get hurt._ Dad slaps them both upside the head saying, "Yeah, we're on it boss!"

The two rush out of the room. Dad turns to Abby and says, "Not too bad for a blonde."

"There is no statistical evidence that says that blondes have a lower I.Q. than any other hair color," she defends.

Dad tells her that he will just take her word for that and we both get start to leave when Abby tells us that she has more. She has identified the writing on the burnt piece of paper we found in the Sebring. It has Miller's name and address scrawled on it. Ziva walks into the lab saying that Laurie probably gave that information to the kidnappers. Dad turns on her saying that there is no way Laurie would kidnap her own daughter.

_Now I know what those two were talking about in the kitchen! Oh, Dad, really? He has completely put himself in Laurie's situation. All he can see is what happened to Mom, and what is happening to me._ God I'm so stupid. While I'm having this rant in my head, Ziva asks Dad where Laurie is then.

"Last time I checked with you!" he exclaims, pointing out that she was the one that let her get away. Good. This is a good time to play the blame game guys.

"I'll admit I made a mistake by leaving her alone. But why would Laurie run?" Ziva explains her take on the situation at hand. Not bad, but not the best way to start that.

"Because she is hiding something," Dad says.

"So you agree with me?"

"Oh yeah. You screwed up." Told you that was not the best way to start that sentence.

We all arrive back upstairs and McGee tells Dad that Varon was a security guard at the same law firm where Laurie works. Ziva tells them that it is because she hired them to kidnap her daughter. Dad disagrees. He thinks that they are using her for something, but he just isn't sure what yet. Before we get the chance to discuss the issue any further, we get a hit on BOLO about Varon's Sebring. The vehicle is on its way to the law firm.

"Gear up," Dad orders everyone and we hit the road.

We arrive at the office building and search the car. We find glitter on the floor from Sarah's costume. We enter the building slowly and cautiously and see the sister behind held at gun point. McGee can only see the left side of the room, so he doesn't know if Sarah is in the room or not. Dad sends Ziva and Tony to search the rest of the building for the girl.

I peer into the room and see Laurie working on her computer. She is taking $3 million of insurance money out for the kidnappers. The man reminds Laurie that he has her daughter, and that Laurie will only be able to see her after she transfers the cash. They expect her to play it safe, and I know she will because she wants her daughter back alive. Laurie asks the man if he shot her husband, and he responds yes because he put up a fight. "He was supposed to be kidnapped, too. But you know Marines, they hate losing." _True that_.

Laurie's sister encourages her to just do what they kidnapper says. _Aren't you supposed to be telling her not to give into these guys?_ Either I've been watching too much television or there was something seriously wrong with this woman. I look at Dad and McGee and nod.

We bust into the room yelling, "Federal agents. Drop your weapon!"

The man chooses the stupid option and starts shooting instead. We return fire and drop him in a matter of seconds. I rush to Laurie to make sure she's alright. As I'm talking to her, McGee gets a call from Ziva. "They've got Sarah!" Laurie immediately rushes out of the room, her sister trailing right behind her.

"Once we secure the building, you and your sister can see her," Dad tells Laurie.

All of a sudden, Laurie snaps yells, "She's not my sister!" she punches the woman in the face and begins kicking her repeatedly. "She is one of them! She told me that if I didn't lie to you they'd kill my baby!" No one rushed to this woman's rescue. We let Laurie break a few more of her ribs before we pull her off the woman. Dad tells her she needs to calm down and McGee arrests the woman. I go over to pick up her purse and see a .22 inside. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Demons, demons I get, but people…they are just crazy.

"Mommy!" we hear from behind us. Sarah comes bounding down the hallway toward her mother. Her mother lifts her up; hugging her as if afraid she'll disappear again. Not an irrational fear.

Ziva and Tony walk up and look confused at the handcuffed woman. "Apparently she doesn't have a sister," I explain matter-of-factly.

"Halloween, Ziva. Be glad it only happens once a year," Tony says.

A half an hour later, we are back at the squad room, Sarah is trick-or-treating with Duck and Abby's help. "The sky is blue, the grass is green, may we have our Halloween?" Ducky says giving her a piece of candy. "This is how we say trick-or-treat in Scotland."

"Come on, Sarah. We've got a lot more desks to hit," Abby says, leading the little girl around the office.

Laurie tells us that we really didn't have to do this, but Tony disagrees saying that every kid deserves a happy Halloween. Just cause Tony doesn't like it doesn't mean she shouldn't I suppose. I walk over and stand next to Laurie.

"Ma'am, can I ask a favor?" I ask her, leaning against the wall next to her.

"Anything."

"Don't forget to let her live. I know what incidents like this does to families; I see it all the time in both my jobs. Some people get paranoid and begin over protecting their children. I'm not saying it is wrong to be fearful, but don't forget that kids are resilient. They can bounce back from a lot," I explain. I just want that little girl to grow up to be what she could have been if this never happened. She won't be able to do that if she is never allowed to live because her parents are scare. I'm not sure if they would, but I've got to make sure she understands.

She looks at me a second than at Sarah and asks, "You think she'll be all right?"

"With parents like you and Mr. Niles, I have absolutely no doubts," and I really don't. I look at that girl who is dancing around the office with a smile on her face and couldn't ever imagine seeing her without it.

McGee comes over and tells Laurie that her husband is awake, and there is a car waiting to take her and Sarah to see him. Both girls say goodbye and make their way down to the lobby. I stare at them as they leave, but my concentration is broken by my phone ringing.

"Vitalani Gibbs," I answer.

"Hello, Miss Gibbs. It is Nick Harding from Green Mountain Falls, Colorado. You helped me out with a poltergeist problem a couple of years ago," Mr. Harding explains.

"Yes, I remember. It's not back is it?" I ask. I'm sure that the gris-gris bags should still be working, so I don't see how it could have weaseled its way back into their house.

"No, no everything at the house is fine. The thing is that there has been some weird stuff going on here. People have been dying, and not in any sort of natural way. Something is stalking them, and it seems like once they see it they're doomed to die. And this morning on the church doors, there were claw marks. We need help," he tone is beyond desperate.

I tell him I will be there by first light, and he thanks me. I walk over to my father and explain the situation. He nods his head, his eyes looking downcast. I reach up and kiss him on the cheek, "I'm sorry for what all this stuff I do does to you. All the hunting, the telekinesis, and the fighting I know it hurts. I wish I could stop -" I try to explain.

He cuts me off saying, "I know you can't, and I just want you to know that I'm proud of you. Now go."

I smile, give him a quick hug, and leave the building so I can go home and gather up some stuff. I use my powers to fling my bag over to me as I get into the elevator. One of the few upsides to hunting besides saving people and killing evil is that I get to show them just how powerful I am. These things think they are just the best creatures that could ever walk this Earth, and I know this sounds petty, but I like knocking them down a few pegs before wasting them. Plus, telekinesis is kick ass!

Don't get me wrong, I am no way power hungry. I just like being able to show all the creatures that look down on the human race that not all of us are the weak, useless cockroaches that they think we are. Humans are some of the most amazing creatures that have ever come into existence. Sure we're flawed, but what isn't? Everybody in the world matters to somebody, and the world needs to these people to survive. God and I may not always be on speaking terms, but we both have the same general ideas about the human race; they are, in general, good people.

I get to my house and quickly throw some clothes into a duffel bag because all my hunting gear is already in my car. I grab a 1 liter bottle of Pepsi, some lays chips, and head back out the door. Time to do what I do best; save people from the shadows that conceal the supernatural world that I live in. I get in my car and plug my IPod in. Shinedown's "My Name (Wearing Me Out)" begins pouring out of the speakers. I put the car in drive and head out down the long road.


	5. Corporal Punishment

**A/N: I'd like to thank SharonH for the helpful reviews she has given me! I really appreciate it. Also my good friend Gesila who has listened to all my ranting and tolerating all my complaining the last few days, she has just been absolutely amazing. This is the last official case Vitalani is going to work with NCIS. If I get reviews from people saying they enjoyed these NCIS chapters then I may add a few in here and there and use them to help develop the storyline. I will also not be using dates as often in the beginning of my story. I only used them up until now to help establish a timeline. Don't forget to read Blades of Iron by thedoctorsrealwife because it is a companion piece to this story. Now enjoy the story and don't forget to RATE AND REVIEW!**

Corporal Punishment (November 2007)

Vitalani's POV

I take a swig of my large coffee before stepping off of the elevator. I enter the office to catch the tail end of a conversation between Tony and McGee. I look over at Ziva with a raised eyebrow and she just shakes her head letting me know that I don't want to know.

"Come on, Probie. You won't hurt me, my stomach is hard as rock. Just punch me," Tony says. I have never understood why men are so eager to get hurt just so they can show how tough they are; this is probably why I tend to like McGee better than Tony. McGee just continues reading his comic book.

"Tony, as much as I'd like to punch you…in the face, I think I'll pass," _Get in line._

Tony grabs the comic book away and threatens to tear it if McGee doesn't do what he asks. "Why don't you just have Vitalani do it? She could probably test it better than I could," McGee suggests. _Yeah, I really do like him better than Tony._

"I'll do it," I agree immediately walking up to Tony. I see a hint of fear flash in his eyes before that cocky grin makes its way back onto his face.

"Go for it," I pull my arm back just as Dad walks into the room saying that a Marine escaped from a mental hospital.

Dad and McGee head for the lift while Tony stays right where he is because the idiot with the death wish still wants me to punch him. I look over at Ziva who is still in the room – I'm assuming because she wants to see this to – and shrug my shoulders. I throw my arm at high speed, but at the last second pull my punch. Tony still makes a grunting noise like he would have if I actually hit him. "Oh come on, DiNozzo! I didn't even touch you," I say slapping him on the shoulder and heading to my desk to grab my stuff.

"I have to admit, muscle on a man is one of my bigger weaknesses," Ziva says. I nod my head in agreement as she continues. "Yours aren't too bad Tony, but personally I think Gibbs' are better."

I almost choke on the coffee that I'm drinking and just stare at her. Tony is looking at her with the most shocked expression I have ever seen, and I've seen people's expression after they figure out zombies really exist. Does this tell you anything? I do completely agree with the first part of Ziva's statement. A man with muscle is one of the sexiest things you can find on this planet. I know looks aren't everything in a relationship and personality plays a big role – at least for me it does – but I would be lying if I said that I could date a man who didn't have muscle. Hey, I'm a tough person to handle, and I've been told many times that it would take a superhero to be able to handle being in a relationship with me. Luckily, superheroes tend to have really good bodies. Okay, muscle rant ends now.

We arrive at the mental hospital where we are briefed about the patient. We are told that the Marine is incredibly strong – he tore a straightjacket apart with his bare hands! That's a little intimidating. Ziva, however; finds it impressive. I give her an _are you crazy_ look before turning my attention back to the man talking. "Where is the other Marine? The one your patient attacked outside the hospital?" I ask.

When he doesn't respond, Dad and I realize that we not only have an escape but a kidnapping and hostage situation as well. McGee heads down to the control room to find the identity of the hostage. When he comes back he also has Corporal Werth's – the patient – file and tells us his symptoms. The corporal has deep paranoia, depression, and aggression. _Really? By the way he ripped open a straightjacket and attack and kidnapped a fellow marine, I never would have been able to guess,_ I think sarcastically to myself.

There is an anxious voice heard from behind us, we turn around a see a man in a suit who is talking incessantly into an ear piece. _I've met Feds less full of themselves_ I think to myself, disgusted at this man already. He looks up and sees us, he saunters over as if he owns the place and tells us that the senator was suppose to award Werth with a silver star in three days because apparently this man is a war hero.

"And your point is?" I ask trying to understand why we should care.

"We don't want to disgrace our troops or country by giving an award to a crazy man do we?" he responded.

"Two words: General MacArthur," I throw back at him. Reminding him of the man we let lead our troops during the Korean War, and he almost started a war with China! Disgraceful and crazy.

The man glared at me and gave us clear orders to have this whole thing fixed before time when the senator is suppose to give Werth his award, and then he walks away. _You are not my boss._

"Good comparison," Dad said. I smirked at him and we all headed back to the squad room.

Back in the squad room, McGee and Ziva gave us the play by play on Corporal Werth. Early in his career as a Marine he had a small medical glitch, but improved his body and mental performance at a steady rate and worked his way up the ranks. The man was due to make sergeant in a matter of months. _What would make such an honorable and loyal man lose his cool like that?_

Dad walked in and informed the entire team that Werth's nickname was apparently Corporal Punishment. Right now, the team is to focus all of our attention on finding the Marine and his captive, Dr. de la Casa…and no I'm not kidding. We lucked out. The doctor has to take a toll road for commute into work, so we are able to track his car by the toll tags.

We rush to the doctor's home and find him in the trunk of the car. McGee and I examine the scene while the others stay with the doctor to question him. I notice something on the garage; a CCTV webcam. "McGee check this out," I call over my nerd co-worker so he can take a look at the camera.

"Why would have this set up here?" he asked obviously confused. People who have never been in the Marines don't understand how they think.

"He is using it so he can identify his enemies. It's the first thing you need to do in combat, so you know how to better protect yourself and your comrades," I explain.

Both of us walk over to the others and explain what we found. Upon searching the house, we found that the Marine was nowhere to be found. Back at HQ, both Ducky and the Doctor are briefing us about Werth's condition. Briefing, please more like arguing. What they are arguing about is whether the Marine is actually living in reality with the rest of us or if he is responding to voices in his head as a result of PTSD. "Did he say anything to you?" Dad asked the doctor, trying to stop the incessant arguing which was about to get one of them – most likely the doctor because I like Uncle Ducky – punched in the face.

"As a matter of fact he did. He kept asking about his buddies and where they were," Dr. de la Casa explains.

Tony comes rushing into the room to let Dad know that McGee found something on the Marine's computer which we found in the doctor's house. Apparently the marine hacked a lot of computers to find the whereabouts of his friends.

"One of his friends is at-"

"Walter Reed Army rehab hospital," Dad and I finish for him. Tony looks back and forth between the two of us and slowly backs away. I look over at Dad and we both give each other a knowing glance. I told you, Marines know other Marines better than anybody. Dad tells everyone to grab their stuff and to head to the hospital.

I grab my stuff and start to walk away when Ducky grabs my arm, "Be careful, Vitalani. This man is obviously not in a rational state. Be cautious, and tell your father the same."

I smile and give him a small hug whispering I will and then head for the elevator.

We arrive at the hospital and request to talk to Werth's friend, who we find out, is there for rehab after losing his leg in Iraq. We are all talking to him to try to find out all we can about the corporal, but getting nothing in return."You two are Marines," he finally says, not asks. Dad and I nod.

He salutes to show his respect for us and we salute back. He gives his sympathy for what has happened, but says he can't betray his friend. That I get. The most loyal men in the world, you will find, are marines. I understand that he wants to stay loyal to his friend, but since we're both Marines I'm hoping I can get him to trust that we are only trying to help Werth. "Sir, we are in no way trying to railroad Werth. I understand that you want to remain faithful to your friend, but silence isn't the way to go. He is sick and we want to help him, and to be honest he needs us to," I explain with all the respect and honesty I can muster for a fellow Marine.

I see the Marine's eyes go wide and slowly turn around. There behind me is Corporal Werth holding a gun to Dad, Tony, and I. The man behind me starts talking to Werth, trying to calm him down, and show him that we mean no harm. "These two are the good guys, Corporal. They're grunts!" For future reference, a grunt is a term used to describe a former Marine.

"We know that something bad has happened, Corporal," I begin. "We just want to help you. I promise on my honor as a soldier that you are in as long as you don't want to be, you are in no danger."

Dad continues my line of thinking, and we can slowly see Werth lowering the gun. He was about to toss it to the floor when McGee and Ziva arrive from behind him. McGee slaps some cuffs on him before I can stop him which triggers a fighting response from Werth.

Werth breaks away from McGee, grabs his arm, twists it, and throws him across the room. Tony comes up from behind him and attempts to restrain him only to get a serious punch to the face which drops him immediately. Dad and Ziva both move in at the same time. Werth elbows Ziva in the eye, and picks up my dad and throws him to the floor. _Okay, I'm done playing nice with this guy._ He immediately turns to me, and I get in a kickboxing stance. We slowly circle each other before I run up to punch him in the face. He grabs my hand, and throws my down on the floor and kicked me, probably breaking a few ribs. Before he gets in another kick, I wipe his feet on from under him and he lands on the floor, but before I get the chance to restrain him, he is up and charging. I backflip and kick him in the face, knocking his head back. I land and use this moment of disorientation to do a side kick to his torso. He falls to the floor and the entire team sits on him as to restrain him.

"That's the best fight I've been in, in a long time," I say smiling at my dad who just shakes his head at my fighting fetish.

We arrive back at the squad room; Tony with a broken nose, McGee with a dislocated shoulder, Ziva with a black eye, me with two broken ribs, and my father who is perfectly fine. _Jerk_. Besides him, Ziva and I got off easiest. Both of us have had so many injuries worse than these that we don't even feel them. Tony and McGee however, aren't as lucky as we are – if you can consider the fact that we have built up a tolerance to pain due to being through so much of it lucky.

Abby comes rushing into the room in full panic mode. I love Abby, but she is completely overreacting. She calls Werth an animal, and Ziva tries to calm her down and points out that the Marine – so far as we know – is a victim. Abby sneers at Ziva, "Well I'm sorry, but now all of us are machines with no feelings like you and Vitalani."

I couldn't move, and Ziva sat down shell shocked. _What the hell was that?_ I wonder. _Do I really not have any feelings? I mean, I know I'm not always the most open person in the world, but that doesn't mean I don't feel…right?_ I look over at Ziva and she is wondering the same thing. This is the price hunters and agents pay. We become so use to seeing the most horrible things in the world happen that when we see stuff like this we see it as mundane. I've had to go full hunter – telekinesis and all – so many times and been in so many all out fights that I didn't even consider the events today to be anything but procedure. _Is that what I've become? An emotionless soldier? _I've always been a soldier – whether as a Marine or a hunter – but I always thought that what made me so good at my job was that I cared about what happens to people. But if I don't even think that McGee and Tony's injuries are that big of a deal…can I honestly say I care about what happens to people?

I hear footsteps coming down from the director's office and they snap Ziva and I out of our dazes. A woman from BioTech comes down and introduces herself as, Karen Sutherland, a researcher. She says she is interested in the Werth because her company develops therapies to help injured soldiers. I look over at my father, skeptical about this woman's motives. I don't mean to be untrusting, but when someone is trying to interfere with my Marine's, well, you find out why they call me the Lioness. Dad tells her that we are going to talk to the Marine now, and we will let her know what we find. _Which means get lost, lady._

Dad and I enter the interrogation room while Ducky and Ziva watch from the observation room. We decide to use the soft/hard approach as a way to win the Marine's confidence. We will both be understanding when we have to and harsh to show him who is in charge. Dad and I went at him for a couple of minutes, and it was easy to see that Werth was trying to decide if he could trust us or not. After a couple of more minutes Werth sighs and says, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for what I did at the hospital. I-I didn't mean to. For months I've had this urge deep down inside me, an urge that wants nothing more than to kill people. This isn't what I joined the Marine's to do! It isn't right, but I can't stop! I feel like I'm suffering after effects from needles and pills and they cloud my head. I can't even see inside my own mind anymore. Wh-What's happening to me?"

I look at this man with sympathy because I know he is suffering and he can't stop what is happening to him. He is gripping at his head like he just wants to open his skull and just let out all the smoke that has been clouding his judgment. I ask him who has been doing this to him, but he can't remember.

"I need help."

"We'll make sure you get it," Dad promises and we exit the room.

As I close the door to interrogation, Ducky begins explaining that Werth's symptom's pre-date his capture in Iraq. He then goes on to request urine and blood samples, so he can find out exactly what his happening to him.

Ducky's POV

I walk down to the lab, and see Abby throwing an all out tantrum. I ask her what is wrong and she goes on about the mean Marine who hurt Tony and McGee. I can't help but wonder why she didn't include Ziva and Vitalani in the mix, but decide to just let it be.

"Abby I need you to analyze some samples for me. Someone may be drugging this man and we need to find out what they are using," I explain setting down the blood and urine that was taken from Werth.

"No. I am not helping the man who hurt my friends! I don't want to help him!" She explodes and looks away from me.

"Abby, we need to think of this man as a victim. We are certain that he has had no control over what has happened to him, and it is the people who have done this to him who are responsible for what has happened to our friends upstairs," I say, putting my hands on her arms and forcing her to look at me.

She ponders for a second and then smiles, "What are we looking for?"

Vitalani's POV

I am working with my father on trying to analyze the movements of Corporal Werth when the PR man from the hospital walks into the room, and he looks far too happy…damn it. He comes over and congratulates us on a job well done and says that the senator can give Werth his medal now.

"Why are you so concerned about this man appearing to be a hero? Do you not care that he is in pain?" I ask, pissed. I'll repeat this till the day I day: do not disrespect my brothers and sisters in arms. The Lioness stirs deep within me and I figure this man has ten seconds to come up with a good response before I just use my powers and put that pencil on Tony's desk through his skull. Remember, I can throw a 350 lb item at over 300 mph. Imagine what a pencil at that speed could do to a man.

"I need to raise public support for this war, and what better way to do that than to show how successful it is. You approve of the war don't you Agent Gibbs?" he asks my father obviously not wanting to know my opinion. _What success is he talking about? Because I know for a fact he cannot be referencing Corporal Werth_.

"My daughter and I support the troops who fight the war. Ask almost any civilian in this country and they will answer the same way," replies my father. PR man quickly realizes this is a losing fight and leaves the HQ. _He better hope I don't send one of these desks out the window to land on his head_.

The elevator opens and as the PR gets in, Ducky gets out. He rushes up to Dad and me and reports that someone has been administering steroids to this man for years. "He has steroid-induced psychosis. Somebody has been using that Marine as a lab rat!"

The team discusses the possibility that somebody has been trying to create a super soldier. "A super soldier with steroids? There is no way that that is even possible! You need some high quality serum to create a true super soldier," I explain.

"Maybe somebody is trying to find a cheaper or less drastic way of changing someone," Ziva suggests. Not a bad analysis. I've heard that the original super soldier serum produced very noticeable changes. I suppose some people wouldn't want others knowing what they were doing to their troops.

"But who would want to do something like this? Also who had that kind of access to him? Ducky said he has been getting this steroids for years," McGee points out.

"I don't know, but someone is going to a lot of trouble to make their own Superman. Ignoring all the time it has taken them to get these results, they would also have to find a way to be sure that Werth would pass his physical," Tony adds.

I look over at Dad and he is in deep thought. A second later he tells the team to look into BioTech, the company that woman from earlier works for. The others begin their work, and I walk over to Dad. I tell him I know somebody who might know of anybody looking to create a super soldier. He tells me to do what I need to do.

I walk into the hallway and take out my Droid 2 and call my old friend, Kiara Natchios. After a few rings she picks up.

"Hey Vitalani. It's been a while," she says. It's been a long time since I've heard that voice.

"I know, I keep meaning to call, but I don't have to explain to you how hectic this life gets."

"No, no you don't. So I don't suppose that this is a social call?" she wonders. She knows me too well.

"Sorry, but it's not. You work for the Avengers which is an organization that works for, oh I'm sorry, with SHEILD. Right?"

"Funny, and yes you're right. What about it?" You can hear the curiosity pouring out of her voice. _Wow, she must really bored to get this excited over a call._

"We have a marine who has been repeatedly injected with steroids against his will. He is meant to receive a silver star and a promotion in a few days. We think somebody has been conducting a super soldier experiment on him, and I was wondering if you could ask some of your friends at SHEILD if they know anyone who has been conducting any of these tests," I explain to her, hoping she can do something to help us.

"God, our troops fight so hard and this is how people repay them. Yeah, don't worry I'll ask around and get back to you in no less than an hour. It's been good talking to you, I've missed you."

"I've missed you, too. I especially miss fighting together," I say. She is one of the very few people who can keep up with me in a fight. Trust me that is a big deal.

There is a small pause and then I hear an 'oh my god that's it' from the other end of the phone. "What's it?"

"Oh, nothing. Nothing at all. So I'll get back to you soon, alright?" she asks hurridly.

"Alright." I hang up. _Creep_.

I walk back down the hall and run into Kathy from BioTech. I say hello and lead her back into the office because she says she needs to talk to my father and myself. We reach my father's desk and she explains that she did some research on us. "You two are ex-marines," she states, as if we didn't already know this.

"There is no such thing as an ex-marine," we both say together.

"Sounds like a religion," she says slightly intrigued at our continuous loyalty to our family in camouflage.

"It's a faith," my father says.

"Semper Fi…always faithful," I explain further.

Abby arrives in the squad room and looks around obviously amazed at the extreme lengths we are going to, so we can help this Marine. She turns to Ziva and myself and looks at us sheepishly, "I now realize that no true warrior should be felled by invisible forces: it's dishonorable. Oh and the other thing I said? I know it's not true."

Abby leaves the room and Tony and McGee immediately begin to ask us what she meant. I just walk to my desk, allowing Ziva to explain the situation. After she finishes, McGee and her report on what they found about Karen Sutherland. Apparently she really does care about people. Dad turns to the woman who is sitting at the far end of the office space. He tells her that he knows about her unauthorized use of company property and will report her if she doesn't tell us what she knows about what is happening to this Marine. Karen reaches into her back and pulls out a flashdrive that already has the memory we want loaded onto it.

"You could have just asked nicely," she told my father.

I look at her shocked and say, "Ma'am, this IS nicely."

Abby and McGee begin going through all the files on the flashdrive while Ms. Sutherland checks that none of her employees have been doing experiments on real people. None of them had been, and our resident computer geeks couldn't find anything either. Who has been pumping this man with steroids?

I hear Brent Smith's voice come from my phone, and I answer it. It's Kiara. "Hey, so I asked Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD, and another guy here and they say that no known government agency has attempted to conduct a super soldier experiment. I'm sorry that I couldn't have been of more help. I hope you find out what has happened to our brother," she says with sympathy in her voice. She loves the Marines just as much as Dad and I do.

"Not a problem, you did more than enough. I'll definitely call you back later so you can tell me all about your new friends. Especially if anything of them are masochistic enough to have asked you out," I joke with her knowing that I am no better.

I hear her laugh on the other line, "Don't worry, I intend on you finding out all about the Avengers."

She hangs up and I look at the phone. _I don't even want to know what she meant by that_. I just shake my head and walk back to the team who has decided to head to the hospital where Werth is and protect him because there is a possibility that somebody may try to either silence him or continuing drugging him. I grab my bag and we head to the elevator.

Kiara's POV

I hang up the phone after talking to my friend, Vitalani. I walk out of my room and down into the meeting room where all of the Avengers including Coulson and Fury were hanging out. I walk up to Fury and tell him I need to speak with him, no matter how much I wish I didn't.

"Are you still looking for more powerful people to join the Avengers?" I ask skipping straight to the point. I am not talking to this man for any longer than I have to.

"You know I am," he says. Chatty isn't he?

"There is a girl I worked with in the Marines. She is extremely powerful. Her name is Vitalani Gibbs; she is an experienced hunter, an NCIS agent, and one of the strongest telekinetics this world has ever known. She is more commonly known – to her enemies at least – as the Lioness," I explain, making sure I make Tally seem as appealing as possible. Ignoring the fact that I miss my best friend, the Avengers could really use her, and frankly I think she could really use the Avengers. Vitalani has always been alone; it took me awhile to even break through the ten feet thick wall she puts up around herself. This could be good for her.

"I've heard of her. Other hunters that I know talk about her with great respect. She is a living legend – apparently like her mother from the stories they tell. Plus I know for a fact that those NCIS people never back down from a fight. You really think she'd join? I've heard she gets along with other people about as well as Stark."

"I don't know if she'd join, but it can't hurt to try, right?" I ask sounding more desperate than I would have liked.

He pounders for a moment and then nods. He opens the door to the meeting room and calls Coulson out. "You both will go and find this girl and bring her here. If we are going to protect this world from aliens, it probably wouldn't hurt to have someone who could help us fight all the other supernatural bitches this world has to offer."

Fury walks away and Coulson looks at me and smiles. I've talked about getting Vitalani here plenty of times, and it looks like I've finally got my chance.

Vitalani's POV

We arrive at the hospital to see PR man lurking about. _God he's like a curse sent from Hell._ He comes up to us and starts yelling at us, saying we have no right to be searching government records. Again, acting like he is our boss. Tony "accidently" bumps into him, knocking the earpiece off, and smashing it into the hospital floor. _Finally, somebody did it!_

We find Dr. de la Casa and tell him about the steroids. He looks down solemnly and admits that he has a lot of patients and he can't always spot their problems. Dad and I ask to see Werth, but he says no.

"Sir, I will have to advise against you standing in my way right at this moment," I warn him. There have been too many roadblocks put up in front of us, and I am going to find out what is going on here even if I have to break a few necks to do it.

He leads us into the Marine's room. _Smart man_. Werth was asleep; we wake him up to ask him who it is that has been giving him steroids. He wakes up, but he remains unresponsive. The doctor looks over his stats and says that somebody has drugged him. His vitals are dropping and he is going to die. He runs over to a cabinet and pulls out some adrenaline so he can get his heart beat to increase. He injects the drug into him which succeeds in raising his heart rate, and turns him into the Incredible Hulk. He tosses Dad and the doctor out of the way and pins me against the wall. I didn't want to hurt him, so I just look him in the eyes with a serious and calm expression. He seems to recognize something in my gaze, drops his arm from my throat, and begins to calm down. Werth falls to the floor obviously distressed by what is happening to him.

We leave him with the doctor and meet up with the rest of the team to work out who could have reset Werth's drugs to a fatal level. The only person that could have done it is the orderly who was injured during Werth's jailbreak. We turn and see him down the hall. He sees us and immediately begins to run. I run after him and tackle him to the ground with ease. I look back and see that Tony and McGee are enjoying this far too much.

I ask the man beneath me what the hell he has been doing. He tells us that he has been supplying the marine with steroids, but he has never injected them into anyone. That's when it hit me. Werth has been self-dosing. _That idiot!_ I can't believe a Marine would do something this stupid.

Dad and I head back to Werth's room and tell him that we are going to have to conduct an investigation into his team to determine who has been drugging him. We want him to make a confession, and the best way to make a marine confess is to make him think his friends could be in danger.

"I'm a marine, so I did what I had to do to be a marine," he says. This is all we need.

Outside the PR guy is saying that the medal ceremony is off. "This man will be lucky to get just a dishonorable discharge," he says before walking off.

After the long day, the team heads to their individual cars and goes home. The next morning we start our job all over again because that is what we do.

I arrive at work at 7:00 a.m. like always with my coffee in one hand and bag in the other. I'm dressed in dark boot cut jeans, a dark green tank top, my gray bomber jacket, and white pumas. I've got my usual .50 caliber on my hip and daggers strapped to my calves. I sit down at my desk and beginning typing up my report from Corporal Punishment's case. I look over at Ziva whose eyes is still purple, DiNozzo who has tape over his nose, and McGee who has a sling on his shoulder and smile. No kind of pain could ever keep us away from our job…at least not as long as Dad is in charge – well kind of in charge.

I stand up and walk down to the far end of the office to retrieve my report from the printer. I hear the elevator open, but assume it is my father, Ducky, or Abby until I hear a voice from behind me, "Vitalani Gibbs."

I turn around and see a man in his mid-thirties, short sandy-hair, average build, wearing a suit standing next to someone I know very well: Kiara Natchios. I look between the two very cautiously then finally land my gaze on Kiara and raise an eyebrow.

"What are you doing here?" I ask obviously confused about why she would come all the way to Washington D.C. with a bodyguard. They both look very determined like they have a mission that they intend on completing – believe me I know that look better than anyone.

"We're here to make you apart of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Tally. We're here to make you an Avenger," Kiara says with a proud and happy look on her face.

My eyes grow wide and mouth drops as I look between the man and Kiara.

_WHAT THE HELL?_


	6. Superheroes Meet Supernatural

**A/N: If you want to understand how Vitalani uses telekinesis in a fight go on youtube and watch Lucifer in Hammer of the Gods (from supernatural) and watch the scene where he is killing all the gods. He simulates the movements with his hands, but doesn't actually use them because his power is what is breaking their necks, arms, and tearing apart their organs. That is a form of telekinesis. So when I say things like "she pulled her arm up and his final scream filled the air" she did something like Lucifer when he killed one of the gods, used her mind to actually do the action she was simulating. Hope that makes sense, if not watch the scene on ! **

**The supernatural element in this story is one of the 66 seals from supernatural, but I am NOT doing the whole apocalypse thing. The reason that this event is happening is because someone is pissed at the Avengers and is looking for payback. There will be no apocalypse in this story. Promise! Enjoy the story!**

_Recap of Corporal Punishment_

_I stand up and walk down to the far end of the office to retrieve my report from the printer. I hear the elevator open, but assume it is my father, Ducky, or Abby until I hear a voice from behind me, "Vitalani Gibbs."_

_ I turn around and see a man in his mid-thirties, short sandy-hair, average build, wearing a suit standing next to someone I know very well: Kiara Natchios. I look between the two very cautiously then finally land my gaze on Kiara and raise an eyebrow._

_ "What are you doing here?" I ask obviously confused about why she would come all the way to Washington D.C. with a bodyguard. They both look very determined like they have a mission that they intend on completing – believe me I know that look better than anyone._

_ "We're here to make you apart of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Tally. We're here to make you an Avenger," Kiara says with a proud and happy look on her face._

_My eyes grow wide and mouth drops as I look between the man and Kiara._

_WHAT THE HELL?_

Superheroes Meet Supernatural

Vitalani's POV

I stood there, my mouth open, staring at Kiara. "What did you just say?" I asked not at all comprehending what I heard.

"We want you to join the Avengers," the man next to Kiara repeated.

I glare at him, "Who the hell are you?"

"This is Agent Phil Coulson, he works for SHIELD. He helped create the Avengers initiative and assembled the original team," Kiara explained quickly obviously seeing the pissed off look in my eye which usually means 'Danger Will Robinson!'

I was about to respond when my father enters the squad room and asks, "What is going on here?"

Kiara turns around, smiles, and runs up to hug my father. Kiara like my dad, probably because he reminds her so much of her own father. "Kiara, what are you doing all the way in D.C.?" he asks her.

"They want me to join the Avengers," I told my father. "Don't worry; I was just about to give them a very firm, no."

Kiara looked shock at the blatant refusal as did Coulson. My father just looked confused. "Why wouldn't you go?"

"Why the hell would I go?" I ask him back. Sure I love Kiara, she's like my sister, but I can't just leave my father. Also I just don't think the Avengers is the place for a hunter, it just wouldn't fit I don't think.

"Vitalani, we need someone like you on our team. After this last attack, we have realized how open we are to supernatural forces, and frankly we have no idea how to educate our agents against them. You do, you know everything about everything that exists in the shadows! You said yourself you were tired of working alone all the time! If you join the Avengers you'd have a group of people to work with, you wouldn't be alone anymore," Kiara said trying to make me understand why it is she came for me. I'm not going to lie, that is a tempting offer and she knew it would be.

"I think you should go," Dad says. I wheel around and look at him with a big question mark clearly seen in my eyes. _What?_ "Kiara's right. You can't work alone forever, this job is too hard on the body and mind to continue doing by yourself. These people are stronger than your average human, and it would be nice knowing you were among people you could relate to."

"I relate to people fine!" I say firmly because frankly this is a conversation I prefer not to have mostly because it is true. "Besides what happens to you if I leave, huh? You can barely take care of yourself with me around, what happens when I'm gone?"

"It's not like you are going to be dead, you are going to be four hours away. I'll be fine. This isn't about me, Vitalani. This is about you," he says. Don't you hate how parents are always right? Dad gives him a knowing look than walks away, leaving me to discuss this with Kiara and Coulson.

"I don't know. You know better than anyone that I don't work well with a lot of people," I tell her. She nods, but her eyes immediately light up. _She's got an idea…I'm screwed_.

"How about you at least meet the rest of the team? Just come back to Manhattan with us and see how we live and work before you make your decision…please?"

I think about it for a second. I know that there is no way I'm getting those two to leave without at least considering their proposal, and I'm not really sure I want them to leave. "Fine. I'll meet them, but I'm not promising anything."

Kiara smiles and Agent Coulson thanks me. _Maybe he isn't too bad_ I think to myself noticing how kind Coulson seems to be compared with other agents I've met in the past. I tell the two that I need to grab a bag since I'm probably going to have to be there over night. They are going to follow me home so they can just drive me to the airport.

I arrive at my house and quickly throw some clothes, make-up, and bathroom supplies in a bag. I grab my phone charger as well and shove it all into my black duffel bag. When we get outside, I unlock the trunk of my car and add a few things into the bag: my Winchester rifle, rock salt rounds, my mom's journal, my demon killing knife, and the book of legends my mom left me. I close the trunk without either of the two noticing what I grabbed, and we head to the airport.

For the duration of the four hour flight, Kiara and I caught up on all the times we've missed over the past couple of months. She talks about one of the Avengers with such emotion that I had to catch myself from making too many smartass comments. Apparently this Loki has caught her eye, interesting. I, in turn, tell her about my team back at NCIS and she already wants to meet Abby, I figured she would. Before either of us knew it, we had arrived in New York. _I don't like it, I don't like it, and I DON'T LIKE IT!_ I know Washington D.C. is big, but it isn't this crowded. I hate crowds – that is why I like hunting. Hunts almost always take you to small towns where it is easy to move around.

The three of us arrive at a huge skyscraper with an A on the side. _Gee, I wonder if this is the Avengers mansion._ I think sarcastically. She wasn't kidding when she said Stark likes to over exaggerate things. We walk through the doors and I am left awe struck at the elegant interior. Kiara laughs and grabs my hand leading me to the elevators. She says that she is first going to show me around the place, and then we were going to meet the team.

She shows me all the science rooms and tells me that Dr. Banner and Stark were really big on astrophysics and gamma radiation. I already knew the second one. The living quarters were just as amazing as the lobby, even more so. They were all individually decorated to meet the needs/likings of the person staying in them. Kiara looks at me and smirks because of how impressed I seem.

I respond to her look by saying, "Fine, it's nice. That still doesn't mean I'm joining!"

"Sure it doesn't. Alright time for the big moment! You ready to meet everybody?" she asks heading back to the elevator.

"Not really, but I will," I respond back and walk in beside her. We end on the top floor which is very open and large. There are windows all around and a bar on the far right wall. On the left wall is a television, and in the middle is a large round table with chairs placed all around it. Sitting on those chairs are, I'm assuming, the Avengers.

There are seven men and two women. One of the men I already know as Coulson, but the rest are complete mysteries to me. They all turn and look at us, well me, with very inquisitive eyes.

"Guys this is our new recruit! Ow! I'm sorry, hopefully she will be our new recruit," she corrects herself after a jab in the ribs from me. What? I'm not letting her think I'm joining just because the place looks cool. "This is Vitalani Gibbs, she is a former marine and a current hunter and before any of you open your mouths, no I don't mean things like deer and pheasant. She hunts supernatural entities like ghosts, vampires, zombies, demons, and I think you've actually had to kill a few pagan gods haven't you?" she asks.

"Yeah two gods and a titan. Not my most found memories," I say and receive nervous looks from two of the men sitting around the table. That's right; Loki and the step-brother that she mentioned are Norse demigods. I just give them a smartass smile in return.

"She is also a telekinetic and a master kickboxer and martial artist," Kiara finishes the introductions and then moves closer to the table as to introduce the rest of the people.

"This is the director of SHIELD, Nick Fury. He is a former spy and is leader of the Avengers," she says very quickly and almost off hand. She obviously doesn't like this man. I look him over and agree with her, he just seems like someone that I wouldn't get along with.

She moves to a man with dark brown hair, tan skin, brown eyes, and a cocky smirk on his face. "This is Anthony or Tony Stark aka Iron Man. This building was originally Stark Towers before he converted it into this mansion. He is a brilliant inventor, but has a tendency to be annoying," she says and I laugh at the face he makes. She then walks over to a girl with blonde hair who is sitting next to Stark, "This is his assistant/girlfriend Pepper Potts." I nod to both of them. Pepper gives a slight wave and I shake Tony's hand.

"This is Clint Barton, codename is Hawkeye. He has amazing eye sight, and he is a bow and arrow specialist – he never misses," she says standing behind a man with brown hair and nice muscles that you can see under a skin tight black shirt.

"Next we have Natasha Romanoff. Her codename is Black Widow. She is a martial arts specialist," she says. This woman has red hair and green eyes. She and Hawkeye are both obviously mercenaries by the way they dress and hold themselves.

She then stands behind a man with long blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes, "This is Thor, god of Thunder and my boyfriend." I have to use all the control I have in my body to stop myself from looking shocked. This guy didn't seem like her type and she definitely didn't seem to like him that much. What about that Loki guy? Thor stands and bows and says that it is a pleasure to meet the person that Kiara talks so much about. I smile and thank him before Kiara moves on to the next man.

"This is Loki, Thor's half brother and god of the Tricksters," I make a disgusted face – not because I don't like Loki – I don't like tricksters. This guy, however; I can see Kiara with and I can tell she likes better. Why is she with Thor if she obviously likes his brother better?

"What is wrong?" Loki asks noticing the look on my face.

"Sorry, it has nothing to do with you. I have had a few run ins with a very…eccentric trickster and he has messed with me so many times that whenever I hear the word trickster I immediately make that face," _and feel the need to punch something_ I add silently. He nods understandingly.

"Yes, some of my followers tend to go overboard. However, it is nice to meet the famous Lioness," he says very formally. This guy isn't too bad…and he was the bad guy only a year ago? _This just keeps getting weirder and weirder._

"This is Bruce Banner otherwise known as the Hulk. He is an amazing scientist – even better than Stark – and is probably the easiest man to get along with in this entire room," she says as a joke, but with a hint of seriousness in it. I've heard of Banner before, but of course, who hasn't. I smile and shake his head letting him know that it was my pleasure to meet him. He seems relieved at my relaxed response to his person.

I didn't even pay much attention to the final man in the room because he had been so quiet, but after Kiara points him out I will never be able to say that ever again. "And finally we have – wait, where is – Steve come over here!" she yells to a man that was standing over in the corner of the room.

Out from the shadows comes the most beautiful man I have ever seen in my life. He was about 6'2" and extremely well built, I am talking muscles that look like they were carved by Michelangelo himself. The man has blonde hair and stunning blue eyes. He is wearing a white t-shirt, khaki cargo pants, and brown combat boots. He looks like he just came out of the 1940s, but trust me that isn't a bad thing because that old fashioned look fits him really well. I feel my cheeks heating up a little and I just can't seem to tear my eyes away.

Kiara leans in with a smirk and whispers so only I can hear, "You might want to stop staring or you might give me the impression that you want to stay."

"Shut up!" I retort in a harsh whisper and she laughs.

"This is Steve Rogers aka Captain America. He was the original super soldier and was the one that gave me the information that you needed on that case you just finished. He is a talented boxer and fighter, might even give you a run for your money," she says. That explains the old-fashioned feel he has, he is from the 1940s. Being a soldier myself, I know a lot of facts about this man's military career, but not a lot beyond that.

I reach my hand out to shake his and say, "It's nice to finally you, Sir." Remember he is my superior; I only ever rose to Lieutenant in the Marines.

He smiled at me and I almost lost consciousness at the sight. _God how could any one man be so perfect. _Steve took my hand, but instead of shaking it he brought it to his beautiful, full lips and kissed it. "It's nice to meet you as well. All of us have heard much about you. I'm told you are devoted soldier," he says.

"Breathe!" Kiara whispers, jabbing ME in the ribs. I take a deep breath and smile back then I looked at my hand which was still clasped in his. He looked down and blushed before letting it go. I turn around and face everyone in the room hoping that I can get my mind back in order. This is such a new feeling – it's a good one, but not one I am in anyway used to. I don't like things that I don't know how to handle.

"It's nice to meet all of you," I say simply. I'm still not sure if I'm staying and I don't want to get too attached too quickly.

Fury was about to say something when his phone went off, he answered and the look on his face told me that it was something urgent. He excuses himself and tells Coulson to come with him, both then leave the room. An awkward silence takes over the room for a short moment before everyone just begins chatting like normal. I walk around admiring some of the things in the room before landing in front of the windows. The view was incredible even better than the one I have at my condo.

"So you are supposed to be the new recruit?" I hear from behind me. I turn around and see the Captain standing less than a foot away. I back up a step and smile.

"Kiara, Fury, and Coulson sure think so, but I'm not sure," I tell him straight out. I don't bead around the bush unless I'm trying to stall which I don't have to do very often.

"Why don't you want to join? What's stopping you?" he asks.

"It's complicated."

"You're preaching to the choir. Trust me, I understand complicated. So what is it?"

I look at him for a second and realize that he is being sincere in his quest for answers. No alternative motives or anything of the sort. I am about to respond when Agent Coulson and Director Fury reenter the room

"Team, we've got a problem," Fury says, his voice is very upset which tells me that this is big.

Everyone takes their seats around the table except me who remains standing by the window. Fury turns on the television and picks up a remote. He presses a button and a picture of a man with his entire torso ripped open appears. _That poor, poor man_ I think just imagining the pain he went through.

"For the past two weeks, someone – or rather something – has been killing SHIELD agents inside the compound. We don't know how they get in, but they don't trip any alarms and they are never seen. Up until two days ago we were clueless," Fury begins. "Two days ago one of our security cameras caught the act."

A video begins playing on the television. An agent is standing in the middle of a room for a moment before he is suddenly spooked by a noise only he can hear. He turns around and sees something that frightens him, only nothing is there. He keeps saying how he was sorry and he tried to stop it, but he couldn't. He is then thrown across the room and something invisible to our eye begins tearing him apart. Fury ends the video.

"This has happened to over ten agents. Yesterday's victim gave us a little more than this video did. Whatever did this was interrupted when one of our other agents came knocking on the door checking on this man who he heard talking in his room. Before he died he scratched this onto the wooden floor in his room," Fury put up a picture of the mark on the floor (look up the mark of the witness supernatural on google). The mark looks familiar to me, like I've seen it somewhere. In a book maybe?

"We don't know what it means. Whatever is going on here is not the act of a human being or anything similar to it. Something is targeting SHIELD agents, and for all we know it is only a matter of time before it comes after the Avengers because whatever these things are, the actions keep happening closer and closer to the mansion. I have never seen anything like this before," he says with a defeated tone.

I look around the room and see the sad and confused look on everyone's faces. _They literally don't know anything about the supernatural world_ I think to myself. "I've never seen anything like this myself. The mark I've seen somewhere, but the tearing open of the chest is new. From what I see on the video, I'd have to say you are looking at one terribly pissed off spirit," I say going into hunter mode already.

Fury turns and looks at me, "Vitalani Gibbs, we are hopelessly out maneuvered here. The people in this room know about fighting, astrophysics, and aliens, but this world is one beyond our comprehension and knowledge. I know that you have not yet made your decision on whether you will join the Avengers or not, but you know about these entities. This is a world that you have fought in your entire life. You are the shadow's soldier, and we need you. Will you help us?"

Everyone in the room turns and looks at me. I face Fury, and with my hunter face on I say, "Director, you never have to ask me that question. This has nothing to do with me or what I have or have not decided it has to do with the people who are in danger. That means you," I make a gesture to everyone in the room. "I'm a soldier and I fight whenever somebody needs me."

Fury looks at me and nods. Kiara stands up from her place between Thor and Loki and asks, "Alright, Lioness. Where do we start?"

"First thing you always do is know your enemy. We need to find out what is really after this organization, how they came to be here, and why they are here. If you don't know the answers to these three question and you go after a supernatural enemy, then you will die. So anybody in this room that has an IQ above 60 and can read words with more than seven letters in them, get ready," I begin. I go to my duffel and pull out my mom's diary and the Book of Legends. I put them on the table. I give the diary to Kiara and give out duties. "Stark and Banner, get on the computer and look up any legends that seem similar to what we see in these killings. Thor and Loki help Kiara look through my mom's diary, if this has ever happened before than she would have written about it. Steve you and I are going to go through this book here. I know I've seen that symbol before and I'm almost certain it would have been in this book."

I look around the room and smile, "Avengers…welcome to the world of the Supernatural."

_To be continued…_


	7. The Rising of the Witness

The Rising of the Witness

Vitalani's POV

It has been over an hour and we still haven't been able to find anything concrete to help us understand exactly what is going on here. Stark and Banner have found a few accounts that come close, but nothing involving this symbol. Kiara, Thor, and Loki are having no further luck with my mom's journal. The Book of Legends is so huge that Steve and I haven't even made it half way through. The only good part about all of this? I have been within six inches of Steve for the entire time, him leaning over me to look at the books in my hands. His breath on my _Snap out of it!_ I scream at myself inside my head. I shake my head lightly and try to concentrate.

"Is hunting always this frustrating?" Thor asks rubbing his temples.

"Not once you've been doing it for a while. They impatience tends to wear off after about a month," I say.

He was about to respond when suddenly we hear a scream from down the hall, and then a loud bang. I looked around and noticed neither Hawkeye or Natasha is in the room. I grabbed my Winchester shotgun, loaded it with a couple of rock salt rounds, and said to the people in the room, "Stay here."

"The hell we will," Steve said standing up. "You can't go out there alone!"

"You don't know what you're doing. This isn't your area of expertise, Captain. Stay here!" I say firmly and run out the door.

In the hallway I see Clint, holding his stomach and leaning against the side wall. On the floor, backing away from a seriously wounded woman was Natasha. "Stop, Kelly! I swear we didn't mean for you to die in Budapest. We tried to save you!" Natasha screamed. _This woman is already dead?_

"Hey, bitch," I say and the woman turns around. Her face was completely distorted, looked like she'd been in a room when a bomb exploded. Hell, for all I knew she had. I shot a round at her and she immediately disappeared. _Yup, she was dead._

"What was that?" asked a voice from behind me. I turned around with my shotgun raised to see it was only Steve.

"What happened to stay here?" I ask sarcastically while Natasha ran to check on Clint.

"I decided not to," he responded simply.

There was a sudden ominous presence in the hallway again and I turn around to face behind me to see if this Kelly was back. "Steven," I hear. I whip back around and see a middle aged man in a lab coat with blood seeping from what looks like a bullet hole.

Steven turns around slowly and his face immediately pales, "Dr. Erskine?" he asks and sounds like he was choking back tears. My heart immediately starts breaking because I can tell that this just got really personal for him.

"Why'd you do it, Steven? Why'd you let me die?" he asks before he punches Steven in the face.

That ignites a fire in me and I immediately shot off another round. "Come on! Back in the conference room!" I scream.

I grab Steve and help him back to the room because in his confused state I'm not sure I could count on him to get there alone. Natasha helped Clint and all four of us arrive back in the room. "Who were those two?" I ask Natasha, Clint, and Steve.

Natasha told me that the Kelly girl was another partner of her and Clint's until a mission in Budapest went terribly wrong. She was caught in a building when a bomb exploded, and they couldn't save her. _Thought so_. The man who came after Steve was the man who came up with the Super Soldier Serum. He got shot by an agent of Hydra immediately after Steve's transformation was complete, he tried to help the doctor but it was too late.

_So both of these people died unnatural deaths, and couldn't be saved. Seems like classic vengeful spirit, but spirits can't just come after people. They are tied to an object or place, not a person!_

"Stark, do you have kitchen with salt in it here?" I ask. He nods and tells me that it is on the second floor, right below the living quarters. I toss my Winchester to Kiara and replace the 14 round clip in my .50 with one that contains rock salt.

"I'm going down to get it, don't any of you leave! Kiara if you see anything that looks like it is already dead, shoot it!" I exclaim and leave the room before anyone can object.

I get in the elevator and make it to the second floor without incident. I run into the kitchen and start tearing the cabinets apart because I don't know how much time I have before one of these things come after me. After a few more minutes I find a medium sized container of salt, and quickly turn to head back to the elevator. I stand up and face the door, but it doesn't look like I'm going to start getting lucky now.

Standing in the doorway is a young man with a large cut straight across his neck. He got that wound from trying to save his brother from a zombie because I couldn't get there in time. "Tyler Gage."

"You remember me? How sweet. I would be flattered if I was only still alive!" he screams. "It is your job to save people Miss Gibbs. Why couldn't you save me? You save so many people, you saved my brother! Was I just not important enough?"

He has begun to advance on me and with every step forward he takes I take one back. "You know that's not true, Tyler. I did everything I could! I'm so sorry I couldn't help you, but I'm not that one that killed you. None of these people killed any of you. Why are you here?" I ask because I need to find some answers and fast if I plan to make it out of this one alive.

"Doesn't matter, you won't live to do anything about it anyway!" He is suddenly right in front of me, pushing me against the wall by my throat. I try to tear his arm away, but he is too strong. I'm already feeling the effects of the loss of oxygen. I look down at his arm and I can't believe what I see. On the side of his hand – you know the one that is slowly killing me – is the same mark that the agent carved into the floor! Suddenly a realization hit. _I knew I had seen that mark before! And now I think I know where to find it._ First, however; I have to get the hell out of here!

I calm myself down for a second and raise my left arm over my head. I bring it down across his arm, and bring my elbow back into his face a couple of times. I turn my focus on the salt which is on the table. With my powers I open the lid and throw stuff at Tyler's back. He screams and disappears from the room. I quickly grab the can of salt, which is floating in the middle of the room, and make my way back upstairs.

I run into the conference room and slam the door shut. Immediately I begin pouring salt in a straight line across the base of the doors and windows. "What are you doing?" Pepper asks me.

"Ghosts can't cross a line of salt. Also they can't touch pure iron. That's why the shells in that gun work to get rid of them for a small amount of time," I explain and finish pouring the salt.

I run back to the table and flip open the Book of Legends to the section marked Black Magic. "When I was in the kitchen, a boy who died on one of my hunts attacked me. On his hand was the same mark that the deceased agent carved into the floor," I begin. "Did any of you notice the same mark on either Kelly or the doctor anywhere?"

"Now that you mention it, I did," Natasha said. Steve said that he didn't get a look at Erskine's hand.

"Regardless, I know where I have seen the mark before," I say looking at the page of the book that held the exact same mark.

"The Mark of the Witness?" Kiara asked. "What the hell does that mean?"

"This is a very powerful black magic spell," I start. "The Rising of the Witness is what it's called. The witnesses are people who have died of unnatural causes or in very traumatic events. They can be distinguished from normal ghosts by a symbol branded on them which is known as the Mark of the Witness. They are summoned by a spell so powerful that it leaves that mark. Once that happens they act in a manner similar to other vengeful spirits, but target a specific person with their wrath. They will kill the individual if they can.

This spell can only be performed by someone with immense spiritual power. The people who cast this spell almost always have been personally offended by the people they send the witnesses to attack. What makes these spirits so angry is that they are forcibly brought back not of their own will."

I finish reading the passage about the spell and look up, "Basically, SHEILD and/or the Avengers has pissed a person off to the point that they were willing to force spirits out of their eternal rest to come back and kill you. And I'm one hundred percent sure that I do not want to run into a person that holds this much power in a dark alley."

"Okay, so we know what's going on, but how do we stop it?" Fury asks. _That's it? No: I can't believe this is happening or who would do such a crazy thing?_ I wonder. I knew I didn't like this guy!

"To send the witnesses back to where they came from you need to cast another spell over an open flame," I say.

"I don't suppose you have a fireplace in here, Stark?" Loki asks.

I turn and look at him, "What? You think our luck is going to start now?"

Kiara smacks me upside the head and gives me a look. _Aw young love_ I think with a smirk. "Can you do the spell or not?" she asks.

"If I translate the Latin right, which I don't see why I can't, then I should be able to. The problem is going to be keeping the witnesses away long enough to let me cast it," I say. I begin pulling out all the ingredients that I am going to need to cast the spell out of my bag. Kiara looks at some of the ingredients and raises her eyebrow at me.

"Don't look at me like that. Hunters are prepared for everything," I say. I then turn to Stark and ask if he has a fireplace anywhere in the building. He says he does in the main lobby. _Guess I didn't notice that before_.

"Okay, two of you are going to come with me and take these two guns," I say and point to the Winchester and .50 caliber. "And stand guard while I cast the spell."

Kiara immediately stands up and cocks the gun, "You know I'm in. These things haven't even come after me and they're pissing me off." Thor and Loki immediately told her that they didn't want her going down there. _Love triangle, much?_ I look at Kiara and she just raises her hand signaling she'll tell me later. "Too bad, guys. I'm not leaving my best friend to handle this alone."

"I'm going to. I think I still remember how to shoot a gun," Steve says. I have to stop myself from squealing because that would just not be cool. But it is kind of nice that he decided to come and help me. I smile and him and he gives me a heart stopping – and I can confirm that it truly is _– _smile.

"Okay, but you guys have got to know that you can't freeze up. No matter what. This could be extremely soul wrenching, and you are going to want to let these things know that it wasn't your fault, but you can't. All you can do is shoot because I promise you that these things are not the people you use to know and if you don't all of us will die," I explain. What can I say? I enjoy dramatic effect.

They both nod, but that doesn't ease my worry at all. These are two great soldiers and they're putting their lives on the line for the people they love. I know how hard this is going to be. We all grab our stuff, and Kiara receives a hug from the man toy and lover boy before we go.

We use the stairs this time to get down to the lobby. We exit into the wide open room, scanning it before making our way across the floor. We make it to the fireplace and I go to bend down to start it, but feel a hand on my shoulder. I'm about to flip this person on their ass when I hear Steve say, "Let me get that, you focus on getting this…spell ready."

_Cue fan girl scream here_, I say in my head as I watch him bend down. _He's got a nice butt._ I hear Kiara stifle a laugh behind me and I throw her a: _don't even start with me, I'm weak_ look. She just shrugs and smirks. The room suddenly gets extremely cold just as Steve gets the fire going. There are three witnesses in the room. Tyler, Dr. Erskine, and Dakota who was a soldier with me and Kiara, he died while she and he were on a mission together. "Don't forget, shoot first and don't ask questions later," I remind them.

"Don't you mean -" Steve starts.

"No!" I yell and turn my back quickly upon seeing the approaching witnesses. I hear three gun shots and I begin the spell. More and more gunshots are being fired, at this rate they are going to run out of ammunition long before I finish this spell. I can hear the spirits screaming at them, telling them how their deaths are on our hands and that the man promised them revenge.

"Shit," I hear Kiara say. She's out of ammo, and by the lack of fire I'd say Steve is too. I'm a little over half way through the spell, but I can't say that I'm optimistic. Suddenly there is a crash and I turn around to see Kiara thrown across the room, through the glass doors. I stop the chant and am about to run after her when I get knocked back, almost into the fireplace. Tyler stands in front of me with a bloodthirsty grin. He puts his foot on my chest and begins pushing me down, attempting to throw me into the fire. I'm about to lose my grip on the mantel when Tyler disappears. Steve is standing there holding one of those fire pokers that you see by the fire places. It was made of pure iron.

Steve helps me up and looks me in the eye. "Are you all right?" he asks looking me in the eyes. I can only nod because speech has become virtually impossible. All I can do is stare at the beautiful blue orbs that are gazing into my own.

"Are you okay?" I hear a worried voice across the room. I snap out of my trance and see Loki and Thor over by Kiara. Tony, Hawkeye, and Black Widow are down here as well. I'm not sure which one said it, but I didn't have time to care. I know that Kiara is safe now and I can finish the spell.

"Don't worry, Vitalani, I've got you covered," Steve says. The sound of my name rolling off his tongue almost made me collapse, but I know that now is not the time to get weak in the knees.

I continue chanting from where I left off. I can tell that the witnesses have returned and aren't making this fight easy for anybody. People are getting tossed around and kicked and punched. I will never understand how dead people can fight better than MMA fighters.

I finally make it to the final paragraph of the spell when one of the ghosts gets their hands around Kiara's throat and starts squeezing. All of the other witnesses are keeping the rest of the Avengers away from her, so there is no one to help. I use my telekinesis to pick up another of the iron instruments by the fireplace and throw it threw the head of the ghost holding down Kiara. I speed up my chanting and am talking at the fastest pace possible. "Et unde venistis in mundum vos expellere!" I shout the last line of the spell and a blinding white light fills the room. I turn around and look at the lobby. The only real damage to the building is the glass door. Most of the Avengers are fine as well. A couple of bruises and scratches here and there, but they really held their own. Kiara, however; isn't that lucky.

I run over and kneel down next to her as does Loki. He looks even more worried than me. "Are you okay?" He asks her.

She is breathing heavily and you can see the hand imprint on her neck. She turned her head, looked at me, and grinned. "Please tell me that this isn't the kind of stuff that you've been doing all alone?" she asks half as a joke and half serious.

"No. I do much worse," I say smiling weakly at her. This gets a worried look from Steve that I just barely notice out of the corner of my eye. Loki and Thor help her up and we make our way back up to the conference room. I immediately check her for any life threatening injuries because I'm a hunter and have learned a thing or two about medical care. Except for having a few cuts from being thrown through a glass door, and being light headed from the lack of oxygen she was fine.

I told as much to the rest and they all breathed a sigh of relieve. I couldn't believe how much these people cared about each other. They really were like a family here, one that wouldn't give up on their friends for anything. I don't want to admit it, but I like this place and these people. Except Fury, never Fury.

"You are exactly as the stories say you are, Ms. Gibbs," Fury says. "Loyal to her friends and a true soldier."

I nod, "It is just how I was raised, Sir."

"Sorry to say that the parties not over yet guys," Tony says. "We still don't know who the moron is that thought that bringing those people back was a good idea."

Damn he was right. "There is no way for me to determine who cast the original spell. I know it is a man from what one of the witnesses said. However, someone with this much anger won't stay in the dark forever. We'll be hearing from him again," I say.

"We?" Kiara asks. She would be the one to catch that.

"No offense or anything, but you guys are hopeless when it comes to hunting. You don't think I'd be heartless enough to just leave you to fend for yourself against a vengeful ass hat do you?" I ask.

"So you're staying?" she asks excitedly.

I scoff and say, "Well, I don't see how I can't. Staying with you guys sounds like too much fun. I can continue doing my own hunting from here, but it will be nice to not have to do all of it alone."

"What about your dad?" I know that Kiara is starting to feel a little guilty. She wants me here, I know, but not at the expense of taking me away from my father. She knows what kind of psychological damage that can cause. Also above all things, I'm still a solitary hunter.

"It's four hours away. He'll be fine. Besides I think it's time that I do something for myself for once," I decide with a smile. For once I don't feel any regrets about the decisions I've made.

"Well then, Miss Gibbs, welcome to the Avengers," Fury says. Everyone follows suite and tells me that they are glad that I am going to be joining them. "Maybe you can teach some of my agents a thing or two about hunting?"

"Mr. Fury, it would be my honor and their hell," I say. I get a few good laughs out of that one. Tony comes up, shakes my hand, and tells me that he will have a room ready for me by the time I get back. Kiara pipes in on that one and says to leave the design of the room to her. And yes in case anyone is wondering I am very scared.

"I'm glad you're staying. It'll be nice to have another soldier around," Steve says, coming up to shake my hand. "I hear you are an excellent kickboxer."

"I can hold my own, but from what I've heard of your boxing skills I'd probably end up on my ass in no time flat," I say as a blush creeps its way onto my face.

Steve smiles and shakes his head. "From what I've seen, I doubt it. How about we spar sometime? It's been awhile since I've had a worthy opponent."

I agree immediately because the thought of being in close proximity to the Captain made my heart soar. Kiara then comes in and tells me that we are going to go back to Washington D.C. tomorrow to get my stuff, and that I will be coming back five days after. For tonight, I will stay in her room.

We wave goodbye to everybody and exit the conference room. "I hope that me joining this team doesn't cause too many problems," I say immediately thinking back to a couple of months ago. Something I haven't done in a long time.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean some strange things have been happening on some of my latest hunts. They are not natural! Just like this one. The last time something like this happened," I begin almost unable to finish.

"What?" Kiara whispers, the frightened look on my face obviously frightening her as well.

"The last time this happened was right before my mom died," I say, immediately being forced to blink the tears out of my eyes. I hate thinking about what happened to my mom, mostly because I know it happened because of me. She didn't deserve to die. She was a great woman who made only one mistake in her life: me.

Kiara gives me a hug that lasts a minute. She may not be able to relate to the love I feel for my mother because of the issues she has with hers, but she doesn't have to. If I'm in pain, that is all she has ever needed to know before immediately jumping in to help. She is a true friend.

I take a deep breath and smile at her, pulling away from the hug. "I'm fine, it has just been a long couple of days," I say.

"Nightmares again?" she asks, remembering the reason that I could never sleep during the Marines. Nightmares of my mother, father, and even her being killed because I was too weak to save them have plagues me for over three years. They stopped for a while, but have recently come back, and with a vengeance. Now with these new friends of mine, I don't even want to know how they could morph these nightmares into something even more twisted. I just hope I never see Steve in one…I don't think I could bare it.

"Yeah, but it's not that big of a deal," I say with a smile. "Now tell me what the hell is going on between you and those Norse gods."

We walk down the hall toward the elevator to Kiara's room. She starts her story, and I immediately become immersed in the details.

I'm happy that I talked her into making me come here.

Unknown POV

I look at Vitalani Gibbs inside the Avengers building from a rooftop across the street. She had done well against the witnesses, and her new friends didn't do too badly themselves. I smile at the poor, doomed little girl. She thinks that we are after the Avengers, but oh how wrong she is. No, we just needed to give her a reason to join them because the more people she gets close to, the easier our job will be.

Her powers are important to us. No one has had such a control over telekinesis in over a millennia. She is a strong and powerful young girl; so much like her mother was before I was forced to kill her. All she had to do was hand over the kid so we could use her power to further our goals, but no. Shannon always was so stubborn just like the rest of the women in the Levine family.

The nightmares we are sending Vitalani is only the beginning. We want to weaken her mental state, so when the time comes her cooperation will be indefinite. Her crush on the soldier would be of great use as well. If she is foolish enough to fall in love, like her mother was then she will have sealed her own fate.

I smile at my brother who is standing next to me. I can tell he is thinking the same exact thing as I am. "Come, brother, let us return home and tell the rest of our findings," he suggests.

I immediately agree, but take one last look at the smiling girl. Yes, I will enjoy watching this proud young child crumble before us just as the walls of Jericho did so many centuries ago.


	8. Words of Wisdom

Words of Wisdom

Vitalani's POV

It's been two weeks since I faced off against the witnesses, two weeks since I met the Avengers, and two weeks since I became one of them. I can honestly say I had no idea what I was getting into when I first joined. I'm not saying I'm disappointed or that I regret it, it is just so different then what I'm use to doing. There is a lot more sitting around and discussing than action, and I'm not someone who likes sitting still.

The only thing I really miss about D.C. is my team back at NCIS. The look on their faces when I told them I was leaving to do a potentially more dangerous job than hunting…it made me feel so guilty. However, all of them were absolutely great about supporting what I decided to do.

_Flashback_

_I look nervously between each person in the room. My father has a sad smile on his face. I think he knew I'd end up choosing this, but that doesn't make the reality of it any easier I suppose. Uncle Ducky is the first to speak out of anyone, "You're sure this is what you want, Vitalani?"_

_"I've never been sure what I wanted, but I feel like this is something I need to do. I'm not sure why yet, but you are the one, Uncle Ducky, that has always told me to trust my instincts," I remind him. He smiles, happy that I remembered._

_"Why'd you tell her that? She shouldn't be leaving us! She belongs here. Not with a bunch of muscle heads that don't know what they're doing!" Abby said, close to tears. _

_McGee goes and calmed her down and says, "That's why they need her. Half the time we don't know what we're doing either. Tally has had to clean up more of our messes than I can even count."_

_Tony laughs and immediately agrees. Ziva looks at me with understanding eyes and says, "She needs to do this." _

_Everyone in the room immediately whips their heads around to look at her except Dad and Ducky who knows what she is saying. "She's like my sister; I know what she has been going through lately. All this solitary hunting…she needs someone who can help her. The Avengers can do it better than almost anyone."_

_They all agree, and there is silence in the room for a moment until Tony speaks up. "That isn't going to stop any of us from coming up to New York and kicking their asses if anything happens to you on their watch," he says firmly. Everyone in the room gets a heated look on their faces, and I immediately begin to pray for those poor saps back in New York._

I laugh at the memory. Kiara got a kick out of it, too, when I relayed it to her when she came to pick me up five days later. I returned to New York to a new job, new friends, and a new home. I think my favorite part about being here, besides Captain Sexy of course, is my room. Kiara did an amazing job. It is forest green and black, Victorian gothic style. I am more than relatively impressed at her ability to remember what I like and what I don't.

I have gotten really close to the Avengers in the last two weeks. Hawkeye and Black Widow are the ones that I can identify closely with. Undercover mercenaries were what Kiara and I virtually were when we were in GI Joe. I can't say I'm too terribly impressed with Natasha only because what she does is what I was able to do by the time I was fifteen years old. Hawkeye, however; I couldn't be more impressed with. His eyesight and shooting abilities are nothing short of perfection. I was in major awe when I first saw him in the practice arena we have in the basement of the Avengers Mansion. If only the two were smart enough to realize that they absolutely belong together. I'll have to get Kiara and work on that.

Bruce was absolutely amazing to talk to. I can't believe that this sweet man is the same one who turns into a big, green, angry monster. Oh, well I guess if it had to happen to anyone it is good that it was Bruce because anybody else might not have been able to control it like he can. I am teaching him a few things on how to track certain supernatural entities with computer programs. I learned the general basics from a genius hunter friend of mine before he…it doesn't matter. With Bruce at the controls now, I feel a lot more confident that I'm going to be able to waste a lot more evil.

Tony is just like Tony from NCIS. They are both shameless womanizers, control freaks, rich, full of themselves, but sweet and caring underneath the annoying exterior. One of these days I do plan on getting them in the same room together just to see if it would cause the cosmos to explode or something. His girlfriend, Pepper is pretty amazing herself. Her responsible and kind personality really balances out Tony's childlike arrogance. If Tony is able to control himself, they will last a long, long time.

Coulson is possibly the coolest SHIELD agent in the world. He really just wants to protect his country and the people that live in it. He doesn't have an ulterior motive which is more than I can say for Fury. After I was told what he was doing with the tesseract, it took Steve, Hawkeye, and Thor to stop me from ripping his head off. Kiara told them that they should have let me.

Speak of the devil; this brings me to Kiara's love triangle of doom. Both Thor and Loki are great guys, just great in their own ways. Thor is a little thicker headed than Loki, but all in all they both want to do what's right. I personally get along with Loki more, but that is because I can relate to his ways more. He is a lot like the creatures I've known on this Earth, the ones with potential to be good. Whereas when it comes to gods, I've known them all to be self-centered dicks with only one use: worm food. This isn't to say I think of Thor this way, it is just why I have trouble relating to him.

The relationship between the three is off the charts bizarre. Kiara explained it to me that first day I was here after the incident with the witnesses. Apparently she is only with Thor because she doesn't want to actually admit that she is in love. That's the problem with people who are raised like us, we learn that anyone we care about is in danger. Kiara does care about Thor, but her feelings for Loki are much stronger and they scare her. Up until I came here I had no idea what that was like, but I do now.

Out of all the Avengers, Steve is the one that I have connected to the best. He really had my back during the attack of the witnesses, and it was a new and wonderful experience for me. I have never had to rely on anyone to help me, and I have never wanted to until he came into my life. The Super Soldier is determined to help people because he knows what it was like to be unable to defend yourself. I can't help but admire the way he stayed true to who he is, even after he became Captain America. No one has ever made me feel the way I do when he is around. Have you ever met someone that could make your heart beat so hard that it hurt, with nothing more than a glance? Or make your name sound like a gospel by just letting it roll off their tongue? How about make you want to wake up every morning just so you could see their smile? I hadn't until two weeks ago.

Right now I was in my room getting ready to head down to the training room. I am in a pair of black shorts, a blood red tank top, and black and white Nikes. I throw my hair up into a ponytail, grab my kickboxing gloves, a water, and my IPod before I head downstairs (bedrooms are on floor 3). I arrive outside the door and before I even enter I can hear some pounding coming from inside. Curious, I open the door, and what I see almost makes my heart stop.

There in the middle of the room, demolishing a punching bag is Steve Rogers. What's so breathtaking about that? He is wearing his brown combat boots, tan cargo pants, and no shirt. Sweat was pouring down his back as each muscle stretches and contracts with every punch. The door shuts from behind me, and he turns around upon hearing the noise. I discreetly grab the door to keep me steady because I am not ashamed to say that I'm about to fall over. The front is just as sexy as the rest of him. Steve has the best six pack I have ever seen, and trust me this man packs a pair of very pretty pecs.

I notice his gaze travels down my body for a second…not like that perverts! I know exactly where his eyes are focusing. One place is on the backside of my right arm, where a long black scar is from getting attacked by a Vanir. Another is where three huge claw marks are on my left leg, from a wendigo attack. The final one that he can't see is on the middle of my back, one I got in the bloodiest fight of my life with a demon (**think Sango's scar from Inuyasha**). His eyes come back up and look at mine.

"Oh, hey Tally," He says rubbing the back of his neck with one of his large wrapped hands. "Are you here to get a work out in?"

I only half processed what he said and once I realize he asked me a question I shake my head and ask, "I'm sorry, what did you say?" Hey don't look at me like that. I'm pathetic and I'm okay with that.

He just smiles one of his perfect smiles and repeats "Are you here to train?"

"Oh, train, yeah. I haven't kickboxed in a while and if I don't get some practice in my skills are going to deteriorate and I will no longer be of any use to you," I joke while trying to maintain some of my dignity. _Please, who am I kidding? Whenever he's around dignity gets tossed out the window!_

I begin putting my gloves on, and he walks over and takes my hand examining them. I have to admit that I am maintaining my composure quite well…now if only I could remember to breathe and do that! "These are different. I remember seeing ones that would fully cover your hands, but never anything like these," he says. That's right. I keep forgetting that he was buried under ice for seventy years. How horrible that must have been for him…

"Yeah, in kickboxing you need to be able to move quickly and efficiently. They obviously figured out that the full hand ones wouldn't work to help achieve that goal. So instead they ended up with a design that would protect your knuckles, but allow maximum speed and agility," I explain getting less and less nervous as time goes on.

He nods in understanding and in approval toward the design. He is about to grab his stuff and leave which makes me feel kind of disappointed, but instead he stops and turns back around. "Remember that first day you were here? You promised me a match. Think you are up for it?" He questions with what seems almost like hope in his eyes.

"I'm not sure, but I suppose there is no time like the present to find out," I say allowing a hint of excitement to escape. I may be good, but he's Captain America – the original Super Soldier. Whether I'll be able to beat him I don't know, but I do know that I'm always up for a challenge.

Steve smiles and leads me over to the sparring mats. Remember just because we're super heroes doesn't mean that getting pounded through the floor won't hurt. We both take our places at opposite ends of the mat, and get into our fighting stances. I give the call, "Begin."

I immediately rush at him and duck under to avoid his cross swing. I counter attack with an uppercut to his stomach, but he reacts too quickly causing me to miss. I do a back handspring and immediately get back into fighting mode. He comes at me this time, and I use my left leg to attempt a roundhouse. He grabs my leg and I flip my body around bringing my right leg up to his face. Steve blocks that with his other hand and I throw my body backward and land with one arm and both legs on the ground (similar to a one arm push up stance). Steve regains his balance and I lunge at him. _This is going to be one hell of a fight,_ I think to myself with a happy smile.

_20 minutes later_

Both of us are still going hard. Sweat completely covers our bodies now and our breath is coming out in shallow spurts, but it is easy to see that we are having the time of our lives. However, it seems like the end comes far too soon.

I rush at him throwing a jab; he catches my fist and does the same when I try an uppercut with my right fist. I put my right leg up on his knee and duck my head under our joined arms, flipping out of his hold. Steve pushes me forward slightly trying to make me lose my balance, but I move into a round-off, landing safely on my feet.

I run at him, but when I get a foot away I drop to the ground and attempt to swipe out his feet from under him. He jumps over my legs and I use that moment to kick his legs, sending him stumbling toward the wall. I leap up and dart to him attempting to end our miniature battle. I am literally inches from him when he turns grabs me by my shoulders and thrusts me against the wall with his left forearm to my throat. Not to be outdone, I lash out my right arm and pull my punch two centimeters from his face.

That is how our first sparing match ends. Both of us sweaty, breathing hard, muscles aching, and smiling. It ends in a tie. I drop my hand from his face letting it fall weakly to my side. I tilt my head back and suck in a long breath. I look back up at Steve who is smiling just as idiotically as I am. "I'm impressed, Captain. I knew you'd be good, but I didn't think you'd be that good."

He drops his head down, resting it on the wall not far from mine and lets out a tired laugh. "You're one to talk. I haven't seen anyone – man, woman, or alien – fight that well, ever. I now see how you got your nickname. You fight like a wildcat!" he exclaims. It makes me happy to hear him compliment me like that. Thankfully my face is already beat red from all the training, so there is no way he can tell that underneath it I'm blushing.

We take a few more minutes to catch our breath, and then I realize something; this beautiful, shirtless man still has his arm to my throat and his body was less than an inch away from my own. He must have realized it, too because he slowly brings his head back off of the wall and looks me straight in the eyes. His dirty blonde hair had fallen in his face, just slightly covering his incredible blue orbs. My breath catches in my throat as I become trapped by his gaze. He is standing at his full height, his 6'2" over powering my 5'8" form. Steve slowly moves his eyes down from my own, allowing my subconscious to vaguely resurface. His eyes seem to stop when they reach my full pink lips.

Steve fixes his eyes back on my own before he drops his arm from my neck, allowing his large hand to land on my hip. His other hand, which was on the wall beside my head, and gently cups the left side of my neck allowing him to tip my head slightly to the side. All breathing stops as his head dips down slowly as if he is afraid that he will scare me off if he moves too quickly. I hesitantly begin to move my head up toward his. Our lips are almost touching when the door to the training room opens.

Steve and I quickly jump apart from each other and look toward the door to see Stark standing there with an amused look on his face. _Damn! Out of everyone in this building why did it have to be him!_ I scream in my head. Tony walks into the room takes one look at us and whistles. "Damn, Captain. You said you couldn't charm an army officer in 1940, but it seems like you got more game than you realize," he said like the smartass he is while looking me up and down.

I blush and look away. "Thanks for the match, Steve," I begin and walk over to my stuff and picking it up. "We'll have to have a rematch sometime."

"Definitely," he confirmed with a small smile. I nod in return before leaving the training room.

I slowly make my way up the stairs and enter my room. I throw my stuff on the counter and sit on the edge of my bed. I put my head in my hands and replay the entire scenario over and over again. _What is happening to me?_

Steve's POV

I watch Vitalani leave the training room, trailing my eyes down her gorgeous body before snapping my eyes back to Stark, the annoyance is more than obvious to him.

"Sorry did I interrupt anything important?" he asks with a stupid smile on his face.

"We were just having a mock boxing match. I wanted to test my skills against Tally, and she wanted the same," I explain trying to keep myself calm. I'm not Bruce, but that doesn't mean that I'm safe to be around when I'm angry.

"That wasn't what it looked like to me," he sings.

"You know what? Maybe I was planning on kissing her. So what? I'm not pissed that you came in here. It's your mansion you can do as you like, it isn't like you knew. I'm pissed about what you said to her," I yell wanting to make myself perfectly clear to this moron.

"What? I say that kind of crap to everyone. What makes this any different?" he is so dense!

"Vitalani is a lot like Kiara. She was raised from an early age to think that she has to put everyone else above herself. She never had a normal life which means she isn't use to the whole concept of dating and crushes," I remind him. Not like I'm honestly any better, but I wasn't raised knowing that I had to stay on my toes because there are evil things hunting you in the dark. I didn't have those horrible looking scars, and I'm not talking about just the physical ones.

"Crap, you're right. I didn't even think about that," he said immediately regretting his earlier words.

I sigh and respond, "I know. If Kiara hadn't explained it to me after Tally went back to D.C. then I probably wouldn't understand either."

I grab my shirt from the bench that is by one of the side walls, and leave the room. I'm not that mad at Tony, he didn't know. But when I saw that frightened look on Tally's face when he said it, it made my soul ache. I have never felt this degree of emotion for a woman before. Don't get me wrong, I really liked Peggy, but we never had the chance to really get to know each other or to get anywhere with our relationship. I maybe could have grown to love her, but it doesn't matter anymore. Vitalani makes me feel more than I think Peggy ever could, and now that I've met her I wouldn't change anything that happened to me in the past.

Vitalani's POV

_12:30 a.m._

I sat up in my room reading Dean Koontz's "77 Shadow Street" and I have one word for him: edit! Have you ever listened to a pastor who is doing his sermon and you're sitting there, hearing your soul dying, and screaming 'Oh my God, just get to the point already?' If you have, then you have experienced this book.

If you're wondering what I'm doing still up at this time when everyone else is already asleep, it's because I try not to sleep anymore. I work myself until I get so exhausted that I can ensure no dreaming – well, nightmares are more like it. I swear they are slowly getting worse and it literally feels like someone is trying to get me to rip my own soul out of my body. I woke up two days ago scratching at my chest trying to get the pain to stop. Lucky I didn't scratch too hard or it would have taken a lot of bullshit to cover it up. I've decided no one else needs to know about these. They are my problem, and everyone else has their own. I have no right to push my issues onto them.

My tongue begins to feel really thick in my mouth, and my eyes are becoming heavy from the lack of sleep in the last 48 hours. I toss the book across the room, mentally reminding myself to burn it later, and I make my way down to the kitchen for a caffeine fix.

I am walking down the hallway on the second floor toward the kitchen door, and I see a light coming from under the door slightly illuminating the dark hallway. _Who else is up at this time?_ I wonder. I push the doors open slowly, careful not to startle anyone inside. Have you ever accidently snuck up on a superhero? Well trust me, if you're thinking about it…don't. They tend to get violent when startled.

Sitting at the large granite counter finishing off a Pepsi, is Steve. I stop in my tracks and mentally begin cursing at myself. Of course, he'd still be up. Kiara told me he was a night owl. He looked up from the file he was reading and smiled. "Couldn't sleep?"

"No. What about you?" I ask simply and walk to the pantry, digging out a can of Folgers. I am in desperate need of some strong, strong coffee.

He laughs, "I've been asleep for most of my life. My body's bored of sleep. What's your issue?"

I stop pouring the coffee grinds for a second, debating if maybe just maybe I could tell him. Should I trust him? I've never trusted anyone enough to tell them about these nightmares, at least not completely. I shake my head mentally hitting myself. Why would I even consider telling him? Didn't I just go over the fact that he has his own issues? "Just a lot on my mind," I say. I suppose it isn't a complete lie.

"Hunting stuff?" he asks. I wheel around and stare at him. "I have been talking to Kiara and looking into some of your old cases," he motions to the file he was reading. "I couldn't imagine doing some of the things that Fury has told us you've done or seeing some of the things –."

I cut him off, "Don't. Believe me you can't imagine it in full, but you can get a good idea. Those two shouldn't be telling you anything about what I do. No one, especially someone who has as many scars as you do, needs those images in their head."

I take a deep breath and try to relax, but I just can't. I know what my job does to people, it breaks them completely. You can never come back once you've seen what the shadows contain, you just can't.

"What about you? You have them in your head," he states becoming increasingly worried at the concept of the horrors that haunt my mind. The smell of coffee begins to fill my nostrils and helps to calm me down.

I sigh and shake my head. I turn around with a small smile, "Hazard that comes with the job. Don't worry about it, I just overreacted. It's just – I don't like the idea of people having to see what I see. That's the reason I hunt, so people don't have to live with that kind of stuff."

Steve stands up and leans against the counter he was previously sitting at. "If anyone in this entire organization is a hero, it's you. To save people from the shadows, even though the mental pain it causes hurts worse than any physical damage, that is something that not many people in this world could face doing," Steve says with nothing short of respect in his voice.

I'm stunned at what he said. Not many people, besides other hunters, understand what it is we go through. Even less common is to find someone who respects what we do and why we do it. Most people just figure us to be fools. I give him a small smile, "Thanks for saying that. Not many people are able to see it that way."

"Most people are blind, and it is for that reason that the Avenger initiative was created. We protect the people who don't want to see what we see, and because of that can't fight what we all know is out there," I don't think I've ever met anyone with such wisdom in my life. I knew Steve was amazing from the minute he took my hand that day two weeks ago, and he just continues to confirm my original suspicion.

"Isn't that the truth," I say. I turn around and put some coffee in my mug and then I look over my shoulder at Steve and ask, "Do you want some?"

He nods and walks up behind me and grabs the cups from my hands. I am shocked to see him carry them both over to the counter and pull out a chair for me. _I guess being a gentleman wasn't yet frowned upon back in the 1940s_ I think. I give him a grateful smile and sit down in the chair. He sits in his and we sip our coffee in comfortable silence.

After a few minutes a question begins forming in my head, I face Steve and ask, "Do you miss it?"

"Miss what?"

"The 1940s, your friends, colleagues, home?" I rattle off a list of things. I restrain myself from saying girlfriend because frankly I'm not sure I could bear the thought of him pining over a long lost love.

"I suppose so. When I first came out of my sleep, I was devastated to find out what happened. After about a week of full blown depression, I was passing a mirror in the room that SHIELD provided and decided I didn't like what looked back at me. It was time for me to face facts and play the hand I was dealt. Sure I miss my buddies, but I was able to find a new home and colleagues here.

I'm not going to say that I completely like what the world has turned into because I don't. But just because the world has changed, doesn't mean I have to. I may be old fashioned, but that doesn't make me any less of a person than anyone else. I promised Dr. Erskine that I would always be myself no matter what happened, and I intend on keeping that promise," he finishes.

I stare at him with wide eyes. Steve is a much stronger person than I or anyone else in the world could ever hope to be. He is one hell of an understanding man, and deserves more respect than anyone I've ever met. Most people spend their entire lives trying to find themselves, and in the process they actually end up losing who they are and when the end comes they find out that they never really lived at all. But Steve…he knows that you have to make your own way in the world. He has been able to overcome the most horrible of fates, and come out on the other side the same amazing man he has always been.

"Do you have any regrets at all?" I ask honestly wanting to find out as much about him as I can. My heart reaches out to him, and I feel as though my entire essence is begging for him to take that heart, hold it, heal it, and cherish it.

"Up until recently I had one," he began. "I had a date with a woman officer in the army named Peggy. I never really dated back then because no girl wanted to date someone they could step on, so when I met this girl who was willing to stand by me I immediately fell. I was hoping she could be the dance partner I'd been waiting for."

_So he did have a girl_ I think sadly. I should have known that someone as amazing as him would have had at least one. "However, lately I have come to realize that she wasn't that girl. I liked her well enough, sure, but we never really got to know one another. I find that now that I'm here, in this century, the girl I'm meant to be with – my real partner – must be here, too."

I couldn't contain the happy smile or sigh of relief that escapes my mouth when he says that. "How do you figure that one?"

"If God was willing to bring sin into the world so Adam could have Eve, he would be willing to freeze me for seventy years so I could have the girl of my dreams," he said.

My mouth drops open in shock. I am a Christian; I know that God always knew sin would come into the world once he created humans. Steve just put a twist on that story that no one else would be able to even think of. God wanted Adam to have a companion, someone to share his life with and that is why he created Eve. He knew Eve would eat the apple, but he created her anyway. If I ever had any doubts to the kind of man Steve Rogers is, I don't anymore.

"I have never met anyone that could take one of the most painful and embarrassing stories in biblical history, and turn it into something so beautiful," I say. I can't believe what this man is doing to me. I have never in my life said or thought anything like that because I'm not a sappy person, but with Steve…

This was the first time in my life I could ever picture myself doing what my mom did: finding the man of my dreams, falling in love, getting married, and settling down. I swore when I was younger that I would never do any of that because I will only end up getting hurt in the end, but for the past two weeks those thoughts have been surfacing more and more frequently. Part of me is saying that I should let it happen, allow myself to give my heart to Steve – even though I think I accidently already have – and fall in love. The other part is screaming for me to run and not stop until I reach Mexico.

Steve smiles at me and takes my small hand in his large one. "When we see what we do, we need a little beauty to help get us through the day," he reminds me. "If all we allow ourselves to remember is the bad stuff, we end up closing ourselves off from our own emotions. I suppose some people see that as an effective way to live, but honestly I think it will just lead to more heartache than relief."

All the things he has told me in the last half hour are swimming around in my head. So much of it sounds exactly like me and what I've been doing for the past sixteen years. For almost two decades I have thought that the way I was doing things was right, and now I meet this incredible, godlike man and he turns my world around on its axis without even trying.

Searing pain starts flashing around my skull as if Thor's lightning was raging a storm inside. I slowly begin rubbing my temples in a poor attempt to stop the pain. Steve, noticing my sudden change in mood, turns in his chair and looks at me with his piercing gaze. He slowly lifts his hands and moves away my own. His hands gently cup the sides of my head while his thumbs slowly circle around my temple. Two weeks ago I would have smacked his hands away and dropped him, but now the soothing feeling he was instilling in me made all other thoughts melt away.

Suddenly images of Steve lying in an alley in his own blood fill my brain, and it is almost like I have no control over my own thoughts. I can't shake them from my head as different images of Steve in different forms of pain begin flashing like some sick slideshow. I violently jerk away from Steve without meaning to and the action throws me and the chair I was previously occupying to the floor.

As my head hits the floor, the images disappear, but leave an even worse headache in their place. Steve rushes over and gently takes my right arm at the elbow. He pulls me up from the floor and immediately steadies me when my body almost falls back over. "What was that?" he asks worry outshining any other emotion.

I know I can't tell him the truth because if I do he'll turn away from me. I'm in too deep to allow that to happen. "I just got a really violent flash of pain is all," I say once again not totally lying.

"From the bags under your eyes, I'd say the headache is probably from lack of sleep. Here let me walk you up to your room," he offers.

I give him a small smile and say, "Sure, just a second." Then I walk over to my large coffee mug and fill it back up. I see him roll his eyes from behind me.

"Should you really be drinking more of that? You need sleep, not more caffeine," he says.

I can't tell him that I'm taking this coffee so I don't have to sleep. Instead I laugh a little and put my hand on his shoulder. "Believe me if you met my father, you'd understand," I say referencing the fact that both my father and I have an inhumane need for coffee. Remember, I don't just drink it to avoid sleep. I also do it because it tastes good and without it I would have killed both DiNozzo and Stark a long time ago.

He just shakes his head and laughs at me. Steve walks up to me and puts his right hand on my lower back and leads me down the hallway toward the elevator. When the doors open he allows me to enter first. Remember he is a gentleman.

"Can I ask one more question?" he asks.

"Go for it."

"Okay, I understand the claw tattoo is because you're the lioness, but what is the one on the back of your shoulder for?" he asks. I was wondering when someone was going to ask me that.

"It is an old sigil that the hunters in my family – especially when they had children with powers like my telekinesis – would put on their doors and on their children to prevent demons and our greatest enemy from being able to track us completely. It isn't full proof, these things can still find you, but it helps," I explain hoping that I don't sound like I belong in an asylum. Though thinking back on it, I probably do.

"Greatest enemy? Who or what is that?" he questions immediately looking alarmed. _I shouldn't have said that, I should not have said that!_

"I don't know. All I know is that they have been after the members of my family with powers for generations. They are also the ones that killed my mother. However, neither my father nor I know who they are. Mom and Aunt Trace – my mom's sister – know, but Trace won't tell me and mom's journal never says who they are," I tell him.

"Is that safe? If you don't know who they are, how can you protect yourself?" The elevator doors open, and we begin our walk to my room.

"I don't know, but I haven't run into them yet so it hasn't been a pressing issue. Once I do, however; I'll either make Trace tell me or I'm sure there is something in mom's journal that at least tells me how to kill them. Shannon Gibbs would not leave her family without leaving something that would help me beat these sons of bitches," I say with determination in my voice.

Steve nods and right as we get to my door he says, "If she has half the heart that her daughter has, then I know she wouldn't."

That leaves me stunned for a few seconds, but gradually a smile makes its way onto my face. "Thanks, Steve," I say and lean up giving him a quick peck on the cheek before entering my room.

I didn't see it, but once I close the door a smile appeared on Steve's face and his hand reaches up to touch where my lips met his skin. He walks away ready for a peaceful night's rest.

I put my coffee cup on my desk and stand there for a few moments. I don't know why I did that, it just felt right. Hopefully, I am not making the biggest mistake of my life by taking Steve's advice. He is right about what happens when you close yourself off from all emotion; it does end up causing a lot of pain. But I could still see those images of Steve behind my eyelids, and the pain that those instill is far worse than any I've ever felt before.

_To feel or not to feel that is the question_, I think bitterly. Both actions cause so much hurt, so I suppose the real question is which one is worth it in the end. I sigh and make my way over to the large bookcase in my room and take out Dan Brown's newest Robert Langdon book, "The Lost Symbol" (**I would suggest this book to anyone! It is amazing!**). I sit down at my desk and take a large drink of my coffee. With those images in my head, there is no way I'm chancing sleep tonight.


	9. The Deepest Scars

The Deepest Scars

Vitalani's POV (a couple of weeks later)

"News flash, Fury…I DON'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT WHAT YOU THINK!" I scream in the face of SHIELD's director.

This morning I got a call from my hunter aunt, Tracend Levine, saying there was some trouble in a small town in upstate New York.

_Flashback_

_ "Vitalani Gibbs," I say as I answer my cell phone. _

_ "Hey, Tally," I hear my aunt on the other line. Well, this can't be good._

_ "What happened?"_

_ "Can't an aunt just call to see how her favorite niece is doing?" she asks feigning innocence. _

_ "First off, I'm your only niece. Second I'm sure in other families they can, but in our family we are too busy for social calls," I remind her. I love Trace and she loves me, but after Mom died she doesn't like being around me for too long. I think she is afraid of getting close to me and then losing me like she lost her sister._

_ She sighs, "I heard you were living in New York and thought that you could look into something for me. In Cold Spring there has been a major spike in kids getting deathly ill, and two days later they're dead. I was reading in your grandmother's journal and found that she was in that same town around this same time thirty-six years ago. I'd go there myself, but at the rate this thing is taking out kids, by the time I'd get there I'm afraid it would be too late."_

_ Immediately I agree to take the case. I am normally very cautious about what cases I take, but when it comes to kids, vigilance doesn't really matter to me anymore. She says that she will email me the particulars. I hang up the phone and go to tell my "boss" where I'm going._

_End Flashback_

This leads me to my current predicament. Fury flat out refused to let me leave. He is going to great pains to remind me that the Avengers have a meeting about a possible threat in an hour, and I now work for the Avengers. Basically, this means that I can't just go off on my own whenever I like anymore even if it is to save some innocent lives.

"Look I understand that you want to help these people, but when you work for somebody else you don't just get to go and put yourself in the crossfire. We need you here, end of story," he says thinking he has the last word. Bull.

"No, you don't understand or we wouldn't be having this conversation. I do not work for you. I work WITH you to help protect people, but obviously that isn't what you care about doing or I wouldn't still be here. You want to keep me locked up in this place so you can use me when you need me. That's not how this works. I am a hunter; we protect people no matter the cost to ourselves. If you have a problem with that, then the Avengers are going to have to go on without me," I slam the door behind me and stalk down to my bedroom.

I throw the door open and immediately start shoving things into a duffel bag. I'm muttering profanities under my breath when I hear my door open. "Unless you want to get shot, I'd leave!" I yell and continue packing my bag.

"Where are you going?" I hear Kiara ask from behind me.

I turn around and face her, "There is something killing children in Cold Spring, New York. I am going to go and make it suffer."

"Okay, first off I'd calm down if I were you. Is this what you and Fury were arguing about? You going on this hunt?"

"Yeah, he says I can't go because of that stupid meeting and because I 'work for him.' I very calmly and pleasantly reminded the jackass that I don't work for anybody, and if he doesn't like it than I just won't be coming back after this hunt," I say and violently zip my bag up.

"Well," she begins. I turn and look at her giving her a warning glare, "You're right we don't technically work for Fury, but we do work for SHIELD. I know you want to protect these kids, but you can't just go off on your own anymore. I brought you here so you could serve a bigger purpose. You know, help protect the entire world, but you can't do that if you're dead," she reminds me.

"If I can't protect the people that I have sworn to look after, I have already failed to serve my purpose. I'm a hunter, and we help everybody. Half the time we are sitting around here doing nothing. Who the hell is that helping?" I ask getting right up in her face. I hate when people assume that some things matter more than others. If I have to choose between a meeting and kids, you can bet that kids will win every damn time.

"I know, but -"

I cut her off, "No, no buts. I can't let these people fend for themselves. These kids are experiencing the same pain I felt when I was first learning to hunt; the pain of realizing that there are things out there that hunt them and want to kill them. If I can save even one child from having to go through live knowing that, only then have I done my job."

I grab my purse and duffel and walk out of the room leaving Kiara to ponder over what I reminded her. I make my way to my car, throw my duffel in the trunk, and get in. I plug in my IPod and flip through my songs. I land on "You Can't Take Me" by Bryan Adams and then turn it on shuffle.

I sit and think about what I said to Fury for a second. Could I really leave the Avengers? I love it there, that much I know, but I can't just abandon all the people out there who are counting on my kind. I shake my head and remind myself that right now isn't the time to think about the Avengers, I need to keep my head in the game if I'm going to be any help to these children. I pull out onto the busy roads of New York and begin my way to Cold Spring.

_One Week Later – 3:00 a.m._

I arrive at the Avengers mansion after finally finishing the Cold Spring case. My body is sore and exhausted, but my mind is far too tortured to care about the fact that my body needs sleep.

That was one of the most brutal cases I have ever taken on. All those kids died so quickly, too quick for me to save almost any of them. I found out that they were suppose to die slower, but because of a mishap thirty-six years ago the son of a bitch Shtriga didn't get to feed and he was hungry. What makes it hurt worse it that it is my family's fault.

I make my way down to the training room. When I enter, I drop my bags and quickly go over to the punching bag. With nothing protecting my hands, I start pounding my fists into the bag trying to erase all the anger, sadness, and pain I feel in my chest. Those kids are never going to be able to experience life; they are never going to get to grow up – all because that monster wanted to live another thirty-six years. He has been alive for over two centuries, and he had the balls to take the lives of children who didn't even get to see a decade.

I try to stop myself, but I can't. I can feel my knuckles begin to break open as I let my mind wonder back to what occurred this last week.

_Flashback_

_ It has been five days of researching and snooping around and I think I've finally found what has been killing these children. I started out by examining the bodies of some of the already deceased, but found nothing out of the ordinary. I talked to one of the doctor's, Dr. Hydecker, and he tells me that the children all seem to be immune to antibiotics. _

_ "It is almost as if something is actually draining them of their life," he says. "But that's impossible. I've never seen anything like it."_

_ After I finish talking with him, I ask the nurse to give me a list of names of all the children who have been admitted and when. Impersonating an FBI agent can really make your life easy if you know what you're doing._

_ Upon reading the list of names, I found that this thing is attacking all the siblings in a family first. It starts with the youngest sibling and works its way up to the oldest before moving on to another family._

_ I then went to the house of the latest victim, a five-year old little girl. I show my badge to the house-sitter – because the parents are at the hospital – and ask if I can see her room. "We need to see if we can find how this thing is spreading," I lied. _

_ I entered the room and began looking around. After 15 minutes of finding nothing, I was about to leave when something on the window caught my eye. I examine the window sill and found a large hand print burned onto the ledge._

_ Next I needed to go to the town's library to use one of their computers. Now, I start searching for anything in the area's past that looks similar to what is happening here. There was absolutely nothing. I was about to give up when I remembered back to my phone conversation with Trace._

_ "I was reading in your grandmother's journal and found that she was in that same area around this same time thirty-six years ago," she said. _

_ Immediately I start a searching for a huge spike in deaths of children under ten in New England states, and I begin looking at every thirty-sixth year. Two and a half hours and two centuries years later, I found that the same thing has been happening for at least 216 years. And that is only the ones that were recorded._

_Now I need to start looking for something even more important: the name of this creature. I go to and type in all the characteristics I have found and it came up with only one suggestion: Shtriga. _

_ The Shtriga is a witch from the middle ages._ _Our take on it is that the shtriga is a revenant, a walking undead in a body that should have died a long time ago. It may not technically be dead, but it feeds on the spiritus vitae, draining the life force of its victims. That's what keeps it going. Usually it attacks children because they have the strongest life forces. There is only one way to kill a Shtriga, and it isn't one that I like at all. The shtriga is vulnerable only when it's feeding, and then only to consecrated cold iron. Which means to kill it, I would have to wait for it to attack another victim, oh and find out who that victim would be beforehand…great._

_ Now I know why it is killing the children so quickly. Since my grandmother was in town during its last feeding time, it couldn't risk coming out to kill. Supernatural creatures may be petty and evil, but they aren't stupid enough to commit their vile acts with a hunter in town. This thing is hungry and has years without food to make up for._

_ I grabbed my stuff and made my way back to my motel which is where I am currently at. I enter through the front door and see the owner's son, Michael, manning the desk with a very complex look on his face._

_"Hey, kid. Where are your mom and brother?" I ask not seeing the sweet woman anywhere in sight. She isn't the kind of person to leave her kid alone and Michael is far too protective of his brother to let him out of his sight._

_"Mom had to take Asher to the hospital," he says in a very small voice._

_My blood ran cold, I feel as if a 200 hundred pound weight was just placed on my chest. "Why?" I ask knowing the answer._

_"He's got what all those other kids have. Mom's worried…he looked really pale," he says looking like he is about to cry._

_I walk around the desk and hug the scared ten-year old. I could only imagine what he is going through right now, and then reality hit me hard like a brick. That means Michael is next. Damn!_

_"Ms. Gibbs, you know that this isn't some disease don't you?" I hear him say. I jerk back and look at him with wide eyes begging him to explain._

_"Last night, I heard the window in Asher and my room open. I opened an eye and saw this black ghost-like figure enter the room. It walked over to Asher and it looked like…like he I don't know, absorbing his soul._

_It isn't coincidence that you come here, asking about the children, at the same time that all this is happening. What is going on?" he begs me to tell him. I feel tears well up behind my eyes. I don't want to tell him, but it doesn't look like I have a choice._

_About half an hour later, I have finished explaining everything to Michael. I explain to him about hunters, the supernatural, and all about the Shtriga._

_"So Asher's only got the rest of today and tomorrow to live?" Michael asks deadpanned. I nod at him. "And this Shtriga is coming after me next." Once again I nod._

_There is a moment of silence before he asks, "When?_

_"Probably tomorrow night. It won't come tonight because he just got your brother," I say, my voice just as void of emotion as his is._

_"Use me," he says quietly._

_I raise an eyebrow and say, "Excuse me?"_

_"You said the only way that you can kill this thing is to wait for when it is feeding, right? Well I told you that he was feeding on Asher when he first came to get him, so when he comes to get me he'll do the same. Kill him when he comes to get me," he says very calmly._

_Immediately I start refusing, though I am kind of proud at how much he cares about his brother and how well he's taking it. "Asher's going to die if I don't do this, what other choice do we have?" he asks._

_"I know how you're feeling right now, but I can't just let you sacrifice yourself. Let me do some more research and see if I can find who it is that this thing is disguising itself as. If I don't have it by tomorrow night, then I'll have no choice but to do it your way. I don't want to see you and your brother dead," I tell him. He agrees to my terms._

_At seven a.m. the next morning, I still haven't found anything to help me find out what this thing is disguising itself as when it isn't in its dementor-like form. I am now clicking through some pictures from old newspapers on my laptop. Optimism is almost completely gone now as I click on the last one. Immediately I jerk up in my chair shocked and pissed at what I see on the screen._

_There, in front of a hospital, is Dr. Hydecker. I know what you all are thinking, so what? He is a doctor. That is true, but this picture was taken in 1904. Now do you get it?_

_Now I might have a chance to save Asher and Michael. I grab my stuff and rush to the hospital. I go up to the nurse and the front desk and she greets me. I ask her where the doctor is, not at all in the pleasant mood I was a couple days ago._

_"He had to leave. He didn't want to especially with all this stuff happening with the children, but he says it is almost time for him to move on. He said he'd be leaving early tomorrow," she explains._

_So he is going to go and get Michael's soul and then skip town before I can get to him, isn't he just so fricking wonderful! I get back to the motel and tell Michael what has happened, and he says that I better be ready to go around midnight tonight because that is when he got Asher. Smartass kid._

_When midnight came, Michael is in his bed and I am hiding under it. I tell him that when he hears shots, he dives to the floor. We wait a few more minutes until I finally hear the window begin to unlatch. I grasp the trigger to my Winchester tightly._

_When I hear a gasp from Michael, I know it has begun. I jump out from under the bed and start pumping this bitch full of iron while Michael hides himself in the corner. Finally, the Shtriga goes down. I go and stand above it and lean down to check that it is truly dead when suddenly I am thrown to the floor and this thing starts sucking out MY soul. I try to grasp for the gun, but can't seem to get it. Then I hear two shots go off and the Shtriga begins screaming before disintegrating into dust. _

_I look up and see Michael holding my shotgun. I let my head fall back to the floor and let out an exhausted laugh._

_The next morning, Michael's mom returns and tells him that Asher had a miracle recovery the night before and that she was going to take him to see him. She also thanked me for looking out for Michael while she was gone._

_"Yeah, she taught me a lot of cool things about the FBI," did I mention he is a smartass kid?_

_I watch the two drive off and then get into my own car and make my way back to New York City, but even though I saved Michael and his brother I can't help but think about all those poor dead children…the ones I couldn't save._

_End Flashback_

I give one last punch and knock the punching bag to the floor. The tears are falling freely down my face and I grip at my head with my blood stained hands. Hunting is never easy, but kids…I don't understand why it had to be kids.

All the pain I feel for those poor children is building up inside my chest and it hurts so badly. I walk over to the far wall and before I can stop myself, I punch a hole clean through it leaving more scrapes on my fist and a pain in my wrist. _Why won't the pain stop?_

"Vitalani?" I hear from the door.

I snap over toward the sound of the voice and see Steve standing there with wide eyes, obviously worried due to the fact that my calm and put together composure has been completely forgotten.

I turn my head away from him and start trying to hide the fact that I was crying, "Hey Steve. Sorry about the noise." Yes, I know it's stupid but I'm not exactly thinking straight right now.

I feel his hand on my chin turning my head back to face him; I keep my eyes down so I don't have to see his face. I don't even want to know what he thinks of me now. "What happened, Tally?"

"Nothing," I mumble in return. I just don't want to talk anymore…it hurts too much.

He sighs and guides me over to one of the benches in the room. He sits me down and leaves. A few minutes later he returns with a damp towel and begins cleaning my hands which will be scared beyond belief in a few days.

After he finishes, he puts the towel down and gently grabs both sides of my face forcing me to look him in the eyes. I almost break down upon seeing the hurt and sadness in his eyes. "Tally, please. This isn't you. You don't get pissed off this easy and you certainly don't start hurting yourself. What's wrong?" I stayed silent. "Is it about those kids up in Cold Springs?"

My eyes get a panicked look in them and he says, "Kiara told me that there was a case involving kids up North and that was why you weren't at the meeting and why you've been gone for a week. Then there was a story on the news…why'd you go alone? Why didn't you ask me to go with you? If you knew that this case was going to hurt you like this -"

"I went because it's my job! And I'm tired of people telling me that I can't do my job anymore!" I scream and stand up from the bench walking away from him.

I don't get any farther than five feet when I feel a hand on my shoulder. "Tally, I know you can do your job. That isn't what I'm trying to say. Look, you know the pain of being introduced to that world at such a young age, and when you see these kids having to go through a similar circumstance your heart begins to feel that pain all over again. However, you don't want to feel that pain so you bottle it up," he says. I can feel the tears threatening to fall over.

"Honey, you need to let yourself feel the pain. It is going to hurt for a while, but you will get over it a lot faster than you will by keeping it locked up inside because if you do that you'll never get over it," he explains softly.

I put a hand over my blue-grey eyes and my body starts shaking. Steve immediately takes me into his arms. He wraps one arm around my shoulder and the other around my waist. I grip onto his shirt with both hands and shamelessly start sobbing. My tears soak is shirt, but he doesn't care I know. He just holds me in his arms whispering "It's okay," over and over again while one of his hands begin running down my hair and back to help soothe the pain I feel all over.

I don't know how long we were like that for, but eventually I begin to calm down and I pull back from Steve slightly. "Sorry," I say sheepishly.

He just gives me an understanding smile and uses his hands to wipe the remaining tears away. Steve stares at me for a few moments before picking me up bridal style and carrying me out of the room.

"What the -" I ask looking up at Steve shocked.

"You haven't been sleeping. You're going to now," he says seriously and tells me that he'll come get my stuff later.

He carries me all the way up to my room and opens the door. He lays me down on the bed and takes off my boots before forcing me to lie on my back. Get any inappropriate thoughts out of your heads right now! What he does next, shocks even me. Steve walks around to the other side of the bed and lies down next to me.

I'm about to protest and say that I'm a big girl when he stops me. "If I leave, you'll stay up and never get the sleep that your body is in desperate need of. I don't know how long or why you've gone without sleep, but it ends right now," he says in a caring voice.

Steve wraps his arms around my waist and brings my body into his wonderful embrace. He leans down and places a kiss on the top of my head before whispering good night in my ear. I can't stop the smile from spreading across my face as I snuggle closer to him and close my eyes. The pain in my chest begins to dull as I lay my head on his chest and listen to the sound of his steady heartbeat.

Right before I allow myself to fall into the welcoming darkness that is sleep, I have one serious and wonderful thought. I can't deny this anymore. This man is too perfect to ignore this feeling any longer. I love Steve Rogers.


	10. The Trickster's Game

**A/N: The enemies will be revealed in the next chapter and the relationship between Vitalani and the Captain will be established soon after…bear with me just a little longer! RATE AND REVIEW PLEASE!**

The Trickster's Game

Vitalani's POV

_I am rushing through the streets of New York City desperate to find Steve. He is in danger and it is entirely my fault! They've found me…they want me…I don't know what I'm supposed to do anymore! They told me to listen and they'd leave him alone, they'd leave all of them alone. What am I suppose to do? _

_I continue searching the alleyways until I hear a door slam. I hurry toward the direction of the noise, but halfway down the alley I stop short. On the ground, covered in blood, is Steve._

_ Immediately I am by his side, shaking him hoping to wake him up, but I know it is useless. His eyes are empty and there's no pulse. There is a large stab wound right over where his beautiful heart use to lay beating. Blood begins covering my jeans, there is so much of it. It is pouring out of his cold body onto the cobblestone path like a never ending stream. A frightening cry fills the air and echos throughout the alley. My body convulses as the tears drip down my cheeks landing on Steve's lifeless body. I should have listened. Damn my selfish pride! Why did they have to do this? _

_ "You can't save him; you can't save any of them. We need you and we are going to have you," a voice whispers sadistically in my ear. I turn to see two figures in black suits standing above me._

_ "What are you?"_

_ "Your opposite. You may be a soldier of the shadows, but we are the first soldiers, the soldiers of the-"_

I jerk up on my bed and frantically begin searching my surroundings only to find that I am safe and sound in the Avengers mansion. A sigh escapes my lips my body collapses back down onto the bed. _It was just a dream._

It's been two days since Steve found me in the training room, and two nights of nightmare free sleep. The fact that they decided to come back now worries me. I don't believe in superstition, but I do believe in bad omens and I'd say that this is a pretty obvious one.

I get out of bed and do my morning routine. I pick out dark skinny jeans, a black wife beater, and my grey boots for today's outfit. I quickly put on a little make-up, my jewelry, and weapons before heading downstairs for some coffee.

I'm halfway to the kitchen when my phone starts playing "Bartholomew" by the Silent Comedy. I give an inward groan before answering it.

"Hey, V," I hear Tracend's voice on the other line. Here we go again.

"You seriously need me to cover another case already?" I ask her not in the mood especially since I have yet to have my morning caffeine fix.

"Sadly, but this one I think you're going to want to take," she says.

She fills me in on the particulars and the only thing I can say is, "…What?"

Twenty minutes later, I am in the NYPD homicide department pretending to be a Fed so I can talk to the witness Trace told me about. The woman, the former Mrs. Natalie Burton, had lost her husband to a supposed bear attack, but according to my aunt that wasn't what she first said she saw kills her husband.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Mrs. Burton," I say while shaking hands with the obviously traumatized woman. She looks so small and skittish, kind of like a rat terrier after it has just confronted a bull dog.

"Thank you, Ms. Gibbs. I'm sorry, but why is the FBI interested in my husband's case?" she asks.

Good question. "The circumstance surrounding it has certainly intrigued us. We haven't ever heard of a bear chasing an inhabitant into their homes and up the stairs, have you?" I first need to get this woman comfortable with talking to me. If what Trace says is true, she won't tell me anything if she doesn't think she can trust me.

"No, but animals are capable of all sorts of strange things," she says politely.

I agree, but then begin needling at the real reason I came to talk to her. "Now Mrs. Burton, I was told by the chief that originally you didn't think it was a bear that was chasing your husband. Is that true?"

"Well, yes, but thinking back I'm sure it was a bear. Yes, it must have been. I was just confused when it happened. Seeing Richard in that state shocked me," she says only she isn't trying to convince me of what she's saying, she's trying to convince herself.

"Oh, I'm sure it was ma'am, but you see if I don't get every possible angle than my boss is going to have my head. So can you tell me what you thought it was you saw?" I ask calmly. I need to remain patient or I'll never hear it from her.

Mrs. Burton shakes her head furiously, "No! It's absolutely impossible. I must have been delusional. You'd think I was crazy!"

_Oh, I sincerely doubt it ma'am._ "No I won't. I was brought up to never think the worse in people," God do you hear this BS?

"I'm sure you are a very understanding person, Agent Gibbs. However, that doesn't change the fact that what I saw, for it to be true, it would have to be-"

"Supernatural?" I ask trying to hide the 'the truth is out there' face which is very similar to the 'I told you so' face.

"Yes!" she exclaims.

"Believe me, if you think it is really that bad than you need to tell me. Something may have happened to this bear that has changed it, and if that is true than we need to find out what so it doesn't continue happening," I say. What? It's kind of true.

"Well, it's impossible mind you, but I could have sworn I saw…the Incredible Hulk," she cringes as if waiting for me to start laughing.

My face remains serious, but inside I'm banging my head against a wall. _Damnit!_

To spare her anymore of her humiliation, I thank her for her cooperation and leave the precinct. I get in my car and make my way to the woman's house so I could inspect it myself.

About an hour later, I arrive back at the Avengers mansion and make my way to the meeting room where I have instructed everyone to be when I return. When I enter the room, I see everyone there except Fury. _Figures_.

"What the hell is this about, Gibbs?" Natasha asks. _Bite me, lady_.

I turn to Bruce and calmly ask him, "Did you go green last night?"

I hear gasps all around the room and Bruce looks shocked at my question. "No, I absolutely did not. Why would you even ask me that?" he demands taking great offense to what I was implying. I'm not saying I blame him; he has worked hard to get control over that beast. I'm almost a hundred percent sure this wasn't him, but I've got to make sure.

"Calm down, Bruce. I'm not saying that you would or even that you did. I just needed to be absolutely certain. This morning my aunt called me and told me to go the homicide department to talk to a Mrs. Burton because she had reported that her husband was killed. They had decided that it was due to a bear attack, but since I don't recall ever hearing of a bear chasing its victim through a house and up some stairs, and killing him in his bed – I decided to look into it," I begin my explanation. Everyone is looking at me with looks that just scream get to the point. I swear no one appreciates the art of dramatic effect any longer.

"However, the woman didn't originally say it was a bear. So when I questioned her, I was able to extract what it was she thought she saw. She said she saw the Incredible Hulk kill her husband."

There is a moment of silence before everyone goes into a state of panic. They are all talking or more like yelling at once asking what the hell I mean and saying that it couldn't be true and yadda yadda. This continues until I pull out my phone and use the blow horn app to shut them the hell up. "Jarvis?" I ask.

"Yes, Ms. Gibbs?" he responds politely.

"Could you look up some information about a man named Richard Burton?"

"Of course, Ma'am."

Bruce immediately looks at everyone in the room with wide, scared eyes. "I didn't kill that man! I swear I didn't! I haven't turned into the other guy in almost a year!" he says desperately trying to defend himself.

I put a hand on his shoulder and say, "I didn't actually figure you did, Bruce. I just had to be sure. I don't know what is happening here, but I know it isn't your fault." Steve and Tony immediately begin confirming what I already said with their own opinions. It makes me smile to see how much these two care about their friend.

Jarvis' voice comes back over the intercom with the report. "Richard Burton was, as you know, married to a woman named Natalie for twenty years. He was an experienced hunter and outdoors man. According to the reports filed at the NYPD he has been arrested many times for domestic violence and bar fights," he rattles off the list of information. I thank him and turn back to the rest of the people in the room. If I'm going to figure out what the hell is going on, I'm probably going to need their help.

Tony snorts from over in his corner and jokes, "So we have a hot head who was killed by the world's most famous hot head." Oh, no.

"Sounds like just desserts, doesn't it?" Steve jokes back. Oh, God!

"Shit!" I yell and kick the wall closest to me barely able to restrain myself from kicking through it. Everyone jumps slightly at my sudden outburst. Tony is actually grabbing onto Pepper he's so scared. That is one of the few moments in my life that I wish I had a camera.

Kiara stands up, grabs my shoulders in an attempt – a sorry attempt – to calm me down and asks, "What the hell is your problem?"

"This is all starting to make sense," I say and pull out a shit load of candy wrappers from my bag and dump them on the meeting table. "I found these at the crime scene…lots of them."

Steve grabs one and examines it, "Just Desserts?"

"Just desserts, sweet tooth, and screwing with people before you kill them," I say and recognition flashes across Kiara's and Loki's faces. "I'm dealing with the Trickster, aren't I?" I hate, hate, HATE this man – thing – whatever!

"Sure sounds like one of mine," I hear Loki whisper under his breath. I turn on him and immediately start walking toward him with a menacing look in my eyes. Why? Because this is one of his "children" and I'm going to throttle him for it. Kiara stands in front of Loki immediately in a protective stance. Hun, I love you, but I'm pretty sure that at this very moment I can take you.

I get within two feet before Steve stands up and wraps both his arms around my waist holding me back. If I wasn't so pissed, I'd be happy, but I am so I'm not. I turn and give him a _'really?'_ look and he just shrugs his shoulders and gives me a cocky smile. _Beautiful Bastard_.

"What has this man done to you?" Thor asks me, speaking up for the first time since the meeting began. I see Bruce shudder. He has obviously realized that if I'm this pissed then they probably don't want to know.

"He has been screwing with me since I stopped him from killing college students two years ago. I've stabbed that stupid ass hat with a stake covered in the blood of one of his victims – the only way to kill a trickster mind you – twice and he is still breathing. That's what he's done to me," I tell him.

"Basically, he's one of the very few people in this world who has ever outsmarted her," Kiara says in a smartass tone.

I give her a glare that could send Freddie Krueger running and am about to retort when the doors open. Inside strides Nick Fury with his 'I'm better than everyone else attitude.' "Sorry I'm late everyone, I had to finish up some business," he excuses himself. Yeah tell it to someone who cares.

"Yeah you should be," Hawkeye starts. "This is serious business, most likely more pressing that whatever you were doing!"

"Calm down, bird boy. Vitalani is perfectly capable of handling a meeting by herself," he says. I eye him suspiciously and allow my gaze to carefully follow him around the room. Since when has he thought that I could do anything by myself? Plus when did he start insulting the other Avengers? I swear, this day could not get any weirder if it tried.

Nick looks at the candy wrappers on the table, "Geez, you guys have enough?"

"We didn't eat them. They are from the crime scene that Tally just got back from. Apparently something used Bruce's other form to kill a man," Loki explains to him.

Fury whistles, "Wow. The guy could have at least been considerate and saved me one. I love those things."

My eyes narrow and I break out of Steve's grip. He looks shocked at my sudden action. I walk quickly toward 'Fury' and slam him into the wall by the door my forearm pressed to his throat. "What the hell, V!" Kiara gasps.

"You're not Nick Fury," I state looking the man straight in the eye.

He rolls his eyes at my angry expression and says, "Of course I am. You've lost it."

"Oh, really? Because I'm pretty sure the Fury I know doesn't explain himself to us, he doesn't think highly of me whatsoever, he doesn't insult the other Avengers mostly because they can take his stupid ass, and further more he hates candy," I rattle off. I may hate Nick Fury, but it is my job to know the people I work with. He should have done his homework.

He smiles and suddenly his form changes and I am looking straight into the brown eyes of the Trickster. "You're getting better!" he exclaims grabbing my arm and twisting it to the side so he can let himself off the wall.

Trickster turns around keeping a firm hold on my punching arm. "Let. Me. Go," I demand through clenched teeth. He laughs but keeps a firm hold on my arm twisting it harder and my body gets pulled down slightly due to the force. I see Steve take a step forward, but Stark puts his hand on his shoulder keeping him back.

He smirks at me, looks around the room and says, "Or what? Don't see your wooden stake big girl!" He lets go and I begin rubbing my now very sore arm.

"What are you doing here you little toad?" I ask in a pissy voice. I have never had any patience for this man and I never will.

"Oh, come on don't be like that! I heard your pathetic self was in town, how could I resist?" he asks with a smile. He pulls out some candy from his jacket pocket and starts eating.

I think this guy has more sarcasm than Tony and I do together…cue a very frightened shudder. "That incident at the Burton resident that was you wasn't it?" I'm not stupid; I know a trick when I see one.

"Yeah, you see I had to guarantee that I could get your attention. I figured using one of your friends would be just the ticket," he says and snaps his finger with the last word before sitting down in one of the empty chairs and putting his legs up on the table.

My body jerks back at the information and all I can do is stare at him. My attention? Why would he want to have that? In all the years I've known the trickster, the only thing he has wanted was to take a couple years off my life through a serious of humiliating and annoying games. Now suddenly he actually wants to have an adult conversation with me. Not good. I walk forward a few steps and ask him, "What do you mean? What would you need my attention for?"

"I have some new…employment let's call it. They had heard about our previous encounters and have asked me to try and persuade you into helping them. It only took them a couple of millennia, but they finally got smart," he says. It is blatantly obvious that he doesn't like his new employers. Wait, did he just say millennia?

"Oh, no. Please God, no," I say backing away from the Trickster. Steve and Kiara are both at my side in a second steadying me. Not them, please not them…I'd hidden from them my whole life! If they have found me…

Steve cuts off my train of thought by grabbing my hand and giving it a squeeze. I look up at him with fear shining clear in my crystal blue orbs. I look back at the trickster and he just keeps that taunting smirk on his face.

"Oh, yes little girl. They finally found a way to get you into a situation that you have no way to get out of. Though you don't know it yet, I've already got you trapped in a situation that you are never going to be able to escape from at least not if you want to keep all your friends breathing. Let's just call it my own little idiot trap!" he says cheerfully. This bastard just brought my entire world down to his knees and threatened the people I love, and now he has the balls to act cheerful.

My dad did not raise a weak child and I have no intention of backing down to this wanna-be harlequin. "And how exactly do you figure that one? You haven't done anything except make one woman think she's losing her mind, and since that woman isn't me…you haven't really done anything," I remind him.

"Exactly! That's all I needed to do for starters. I'm going to give you one chance to just accept the fact that you aren't anything more than a tool, and come with me. If you don't, suddenly the Avengers aren't going to be seen in such a…heroic light," he says keeping that damn cheerfulness in his voice while standing up.

Immediately my hand lashes out in front of me and he becomes unable to breathe as I use my telekinesis to cut off his oxygen. That's the second time he has threatened my friends, now he's getting hurt. Screw fear! "Understand this you arrogant dick, I'm not going to help whatever these things are you work for, and there's nothing you can do to change my mind, so I'd stop with the pointless threats. They just make you look pathetic," I taunt back at him.

I let go of his throat to allow him the power of annoying speech once again. He falls to the ground grabbing his throat and gives me a nasty look. Trickster gets up and comes at me, knocks Kiara to the floor and throws Steve into the wall. He pushes me against another wall with an angry look on his face. "No, bitch, here's what's going to happen. You are going to come with me or I am going to do exactly what I did to that woman only on a much larger scale. Suddenly innocent people are going to start dying, and each time it becomes a little clearer who the culprit or should I say culprits are. Can you imagine what would happen to your friends if the public found out that they were killing innocents? Because I'm certain it won't be good," he finishes off explaining his plan and backs away from me with a smirk on his face.

"You're not stupid enough to take on the Avengers," I say moving closer to him. Everyone in the room circles around him and he gets a little on edge.

"I suppose I'm not, but I'm not planning on taking them on. Let's face it, the second I disappear from this room the only protection they have from me is you. You will be responsible for keeping innocent people alive and preventing the Avengers from being forced into hiding. You really think you can do all that?" he asks. _Please, get over yourself._

"Bring it on," I say getting right in his face. I'm not afraid of this guy – the people he is working for absolutely, but as long as they aren't making an appearance I'll be totally fine with dropping this sorry excuse for a villain.

He is taken back by my rash decision and stands up straight, "Fine, but just remember when people start dying…it is all on you."

The trickster disappears from the room and everyone else begins looking from one person to the other and I whisper to myself, "No, trickster. It's on you."

The room has been shrouded in silence, until a small voice asks, "He isn't serious is he? He isn't going to ruin the Avengers?"

Tony goes to comfort the shaking Pepper. This jackass had no right to do this to these people. They are nothing but innocent spectators in an age long battle that I brought them into. Why did I come here? How could I have been stupid enough to think that I could live a normal life here? What about Steve? What's going to happen to him because of me?

"What have you done?" Natasha asks coming at me grabbing the collar of my jacket. "You just offered us up to the lions! Do we really mean that little to you that you would let your selfish pride prevent you from making the right decision? Who the hell are these people anyway? What do they want with your worthless ass?"

"Back off, you have no idea what you're talking about," Steve says coming to my defense. He puts his left arm around my waist and pulls my limp body into him. Steve knows more about this than anybody. At the time, telling him seemed to be a good idea. It seemed to help, but now I don't know. Hawkeye comes over and tells Natasha she needs to calm down.

"I don't know," I say in a small voice. "I don't know who they are or what they want. All I know is that they have been tormenting my family for longer than we can remember. I'm sorry for getting you all into this, but I promise I am not going to let these people hurt you. The trickster, to them, is a sorry excuse for a hit man, nothing more. I'm going to track him down and kill him before too much more damage is done. You can count on that," I declare.

That leaves everyone stunned. Kiara asks, "What are you going to do?"

She looks scared; I've never seen her scared. No doubt she's thinking about what could happen to Loki if this mess gets out of hand. "Hopefully nothing that will make this worse than it is. Right now, all I can do is wait," I tell them.

"How do we help?" Bruce asks. _Oh, hell no. _

"You don't," Steve is about to object when I raise my hand stopping him. "All you have to do is continue to ensure the public that you are on their side, so when the trickster strikes they will doubt what they see instead of jumping right to a conviction. I've gotten you too deep into this already. I'm not getting you tangled any further."

I walk toward the door and open it. I am about to exit when I stop myself and force my body to turn around and look at everyone in the room. "I'm sorry," I choke out before leaving the room and entering the elevator.

I stand there looking at the floor for a second before raising my head slowly to look at my reflection in the mirror. _It's time these things understand why the name Levine causes more pain and humiliation to supernatural creatures than any other name in the world._

_Four days later…_

It's been four days since the trickster first appeared at the Avenger's mansion, and two days ago he decided to bring on his second assault. Two drunken frat buddies were found dead in an abandoned warehouse. Their bodies were covered in claw and bite marks. Statements from a couple of witnesses say they saw the guys leave with a girl who apparently looked a lot like Kiara. Oh, do I remember her reaction when I gave her that lovely piece of news.

_Flashback_

_ "Excuse me!" she screams in my face and I back my head away a couple of inches._

_ "Don't shoot the messenger. I'm not the one that used your form to kill a couple of guys, that would be one of your future husband's followers," I say cheekily. Considering there is no one else in the room I figure that it is okay to say that out loud. _

_ She tackles me to the floor and starts trying to fight with me, but I easily throw her off me. Loki enters and looks around the room. "Do I want to know?"_

_ "Kiara isn't too happy with the fact that one of your buddies decided to use her as his next player in his sick little game. Of course, instead of taking her anger out on the person who deserves it she has decided to take it out on me," I tell him while looking at a snarling Kiara._

_"I don't suppose you have figured out a way to stop him, yet?" I shake my head and tell them both not to worry. This is fun for him and he can't resist the notion of screwing with me. He'll contact me soon…I'm sure of it._

_End Flashback_

It has also been four days since I've talked to Steve. I've been trying to distance myself from him. If I can't stop this from happening, I am going to have to leave the Avengers. I love Steve, God I really do, but if I let myself fall any deeper in love than I'll never be able to leave, and he may end up just as he did in my dream. I'm not putting his life on the line just because I want so desperately to be near him.

It is about nine p.m. and I am reading 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow' while listening to a police scanner. Trickster said he was going to start making this more and more obvious as he went, I'm just hoping I can one up him before he gets too far. I'm at the point where the headless horseman attacks the church when the scanner goes off.

"Oh my God. What the hell is this?" I hear one policeman say.

Another responds to the first's obvious distress, "What's wrong, officer?"

The first man gives an address to a small diner and tells his buddy to get there fast, "My god, he's attacking the diner! There's lightning. How is there lightning? Oh my God, he sees me…no please don't. Wait, aren't you? No, there's no way. Get away from me!"

I think for a second. Too easy, much too easy…_Sonofabitch_. I know he is doing this on purpose, but since I don't have any other option I grab my very sharp and dangerous wooden stake and leave the safety of my room. I can't tell you how much I wish life could be like all those books I read: easy answers, endings wrapped in a bow, all that fairytale mumbo jumbo.

I make it to the parking garage without, luckily, running into any of the Avengers. I don't have time to talk them into staying where it's safe. Besides it would be wasted breath, they don't listen to me. I speed out of the garage easily going sixty miles per hour. Trap or not, this may be the only chance I have to save my friends from public disgrace.

I arrive at the diner fifteen minutes later and it looks like I'm going to have to deal with Mr. I-Think-I'm-Hilarious' version of Thor. Lightning is bouncing off of every surface, and I see at least thirty people cowering underneath tables in the diner.

Carefully I step out of my car and look around the area. I don't care if it isn't the real Thor, if the trickster has anything to do with it then you can be damn sure it's dangerous. I feel a dark presence from behind me and I jump to my left just in time to avoid being burnt to a crisp by a lightning bolt.

I roll over and land in a crouched position, ready to pounce. In front of me, I see a very real version of Thor. Cape, armor, and hammer all in one dangerous – and slightly sexy – looking package. He raises his hammer, but I run at him and do a full roundhouse knocking the hammer out of his hand. The imitation throws a punch, but I grab his hand. "Oh, bad move," I say with a dangerous smirk and flick my wrist while using my powers, breaking his arm off at the elbow. It falls to the ground and I step one foot over his body, put my right arm down and hear a grunt meaning the telekinesis was working. I jerk my arm up and hear a blood-curdling scream before the imitation's head falls down for the last time.

Killing something with telekinesis is brutal and painful, but I didn't really like that thing so I don't care. I look down only to see the "body" disappear. I hear clapping from behind me. I slowly turn my body around with a dramatic roll of my head. Of course, standing behind me, is the only man in the world that has the power to actually make me miss demons.

"I have to admit, you really are as impressive as they say," he says coming closer. "That was kind of a close call though, don't you think? How about you just give up this pointless little crusade and come with me to your brand new holding cell?"

"Bite me, bitch," I tell him with a sickly sweet voice as we begin to circle each other.

"Maybe later, big girl. Haven't you made those heroes suffer enough? They've already had to deal with you for a couple of months. I feel bad for those poor suckers," he tells me. _Yeah, I've started feeling that way too…though I'm not going to tell you that._

Changing the subject I start getting down to the real reason I came here. "So what have you done that these things have been able to grab you by the short and curlies?" I ask him.

He scoffs, "I'm not controlled by any of those SOBs. Believe me. They simply offered me an opportunity to do what I do best to someone I despise. That's it."

I smirk and say, "Oh, no, you're somebody's bitch."

His mouth dropped into a low frown, he grabs my jacket, and slams me into a tree that was two feet behind me about three seconds ago. I look up shocked and a tad frightened at the monster before me. "Don't you ever, ever presume to know what I am. You are nothing compared to us, and yet you're people have done nothing but cause us pain and misery since the day you were created."

I keep my mouth in a straight line and straighten out my body. This pathetic twerp is not going to intimidate me into backing down. I have too much riding on this: my friends, my heart, and whatever I have left of my dignity.

"So, listen up. This is what is going to happen. You're going to suck it up and play the role that destiny has chosen for you," he declares. _Destiny? What the hell has destiny to do with – nope never mind I don't wanna know. I just want to throttle the life out of this bitch!_

"And what are you going to do if I don't?" I ask him. Why did I do that? Once again, this is something that I probably don't want to know!

He smirks and says, "Then your Captain is next. Can you imagine what would happen to him if he was seen, on national television, killing the governor of New York? Well, you may not have to!"

I am about to rip into this jackass when he says, "You have twelve hours."

Suddenly I am standing alone. Frustrated I kick the tree and send it falling to the ground. Oops. I get back into my car and drive back to the Avenger's mansion. I've got a lot of work to do.

I arrive back home and make my way up to the living quarters. I am walking down the hall when I pass Loki is heading toward the elevator. "Vitalani," I hear him say.

I turn around and look at him curiously, "Yes?"

He sighs, "I suppose you've had another run in with our mysterious friend?" _Friend?_

"Yeah, he was using your brother this time around. Don't worry I ended it before anyone noticed it was him," I assure him upon seeing the panicked look on his face. He nods at me and his eyes begin to dart around the room. He's nervous about something.

"Did you have something you wanted to say to me?" I ask growing impatient. It's been a long week, okay?

"He's not a trickster," he finally says.

Pause. "Are you high?" I ask/yell immediately checking his vitals for any signs of drugs.

He bats my hand away and gives me a look that tells me to shut up and listen. "I had my suspicions when he first appeared, but now I'm almost certain. No trickster has this much power. He's even more powerful than I am! I don't know what his game is or why he is coming after you or even why he is claiming to be a trickster, but he's not."

I let his words sink in as I think back to all the times I've been forced to fight this guy. All the times he has played his cruel tricks on me. All the times I've stabbed him with the… "The stake never worked," I whisper to myself. How the hell did I miss that?

"Yes, when you told us that you had already stabbed him twice and he hadn't died, it struck my interest. It should have killed him the first time. It is, after all, the only way to kill a trickster," he reminds me.

I think back to everything that has occurred within the last couple of days. How…different the trick – thing has been acting this time around. He isn't normally so stressed and certainly not so violent – at least not toward me he isn't. I continue replaying everything in my head until one statement he made completely shatters my world.

_"You are nothing compared to us, and yet you're people have done nothing but cause us pain and misery."_

"Shit!" I say and begin running toward my room. I yell a thank you back at Loki and continue on to my destination.

I enter my room and immediately make my way over to where I keep my mom's diary. I told Steve a couple of weeks ago that she would never have left us without telling how to waste these bastards.

Starting near the end, because once I was born she had no need to really write in it, I know that if she left me a message than it would somewhere in this general area. I have never before had any need to look this far back mostly because I didn't need the information contained in it, but part of me just didn't want to know. Part of me still doesn't, but now I don't have a choice.

I continue flipping frantically through a book until I land on a page with my name at the top. My breath catches in my throat as I read the words my mother had always meant for me to find.

_My darling daughter Vitalani,_

_If you are reading this that means that I am not there to teach you myself. I'm so sorry, my child. I never meant for this to happen you must understand that. About now, you have most likely had a run in with our enemies – the ones we fear most. Do not give into them, child, not unless you feel that you have no other choice like I know I didn't. Falling in love is not a bad thing, baby – in fact I'd say it was worth it in the end. I wouldn't trade all the days in the world to replace the ones that I had with your father. However, I'm getting off track. There is a box of weapons that Jethro was meant to give to you; in it is a long silver knife that I'm sure you have had no use for up until now. That blade can kill these things, but be warned they have them too. You can also capture them in a ring of fire…holy fire to be exact. Call my sister, she'll know how to get you the holy oil you'll need to draw the ring. If the need is that dire, tell her it is time – time for you to know the truth. I had wished this day would never come, but apparently it has. _

_ I love you, Vitalani. _

_ - Mom_

I sat there shell-shocked for a moment. I had a way to kill these things all along and I didn't even know it? I rattle off a list of profanities in my head before walking to my closet, and pulling out the chest that Mom had mentioned in her letter. In it is the gleaming silver blade. I pick it up and suddenly feel a new found power surge through me. I am no longer completely defenseless in this fight.

A plan immediately begins forming in my head. It is time that I know exactly what these things want with me, stop the torment they are placing upon my comrades, and find out who these people are. Now, I know just how to take care of all of these problems.

I pick up my phone and dial my aunt's number. "Hello?" I hear her say sleepily on the other line.

"Aunt Trace, I found Mom's letter," I hear a sharp intake of breath from the other line. "Listen, I've finally met one of these – whatever they are. I've got the knife. Now I need this holy oil and one hell of an explanation."

As she begins her tale, I continue getting things ready. I write out a note for Kiara, I need to know that somebody has knowledge of what I've done…just in case something happens. This way they know the reader's digest version of what is going to go down, and they will at least know that they are safe. If I don't come back, I will no longer be endangering their lives. _I'm sorry, Steve._

I continue listening to my aunt, and tell her what I plan to do. It is time that I show these douche bags that I'm not just going to sit back and take it. I've stepped to the line, and now I'll fight until every last one of them has disappeared or I'll die trying.

This game ends now.


	11. The Truth Revealed

**A/N: I love Gabriel I really do. I'm sorry that I have to portray him like this but it just helps the story. If you are a Gabriel lover just know that I am too and to repay him for it later down the road I'll be writing a one-shot for him. Also the new cover picture for the story is the picture of how Vitalani is meant to look. Now don't forget…RATE AND REVIEW!**

The Truth Revealed

Vitalani's POV

I walk over to the ledge to look out at the Manhattan skyline. I'm currently standing on the roof of a tall, old abandoned building; the sky is still holding on to that last little bit of night that remains in the day. My long raven locks billow behind me as I lean on the ledge of the roof. I can still see the large 'A' clearly lit on top of the Avengers headquarters. One tear escapes from my blue eyes as I think about what could happen to them if I fail here tonight…and what will happen to me.

I take a deep breath and force myself to look away from the place that has been my home for the past couple of months. I walk a few steps away from the ledge and erase all emotions from my eyes. The only thing that he is going to see me feeling is determination, annoyance, and a shit load of anger.

One more deep breath. "Trickster! All right! You win! I'll do it!" I yell into the empty air.

A few seconds pass until finally I hear, "Wow and with five hours to spare. I'm shocked. I figured you would have fought this inevitable ending till the very last second."

"Wow, do you ever – oh I don't know – STOP talking?" I ask looking at the man who has made my life hell for the past four days…well two years really.

He just walks toward me a few steps with that infamous smirk still plastered all over his smug face. "So, you ready to just come quietly?" he asks stopping about three feet from me. _Seems he finally learned that it is safest to stay out of arm swinging length_ I think stopping a chuckle from escaping my mouth.

"Not quite yet," I start. "I've got a couple of questions for you first."

"The chicken came before the egg," he says crossing his arms.

_Ha. Ha. Ha. Though you would know that wouldn't you?_ "Well, thank you for that useless piece of information, but I could really care less," I respond using my sickly sweet voice. "You see I was talking to Loki earlier this evening – you know the father of all tricksters – and while I was a thought occurred to me. Why did the stake never kill you? I've stabbed you twice and yet I'm still seeing your ugly mug. Why?"

He just shrugs and gets a fake 'I don't know' look on his face. "Well, I am the trickster," he says.

"But maybe you're not," I say and he gives me a wary look. I pull out a zippo lighter and flick it open, the flame illuminating the fading darkness around us. I drop the lighter and he is engulfed in a ring of fire "Maybe you've always been an angel."

He looks around startled for a second, but tries to cover up his surprise. "A what?" he laughs brushing the information off like it was nothing. "Did somebody slip some coke in your coffee, kid?"

I cock my head to the side and give him a look. "I'll tell you what. You just jump your ass over the holy fire here and I'll call it my mistake."

He just gives another nervous laugh and looks at the ground. The smile fades from his face and he looks back up at me. Slowly he raises his hands and gives three distinct claps. "Well played, kid. Well played. How'd you know about the holy oil? Better yet…where'd ya get it?" he asks using his hands to motion to the flaming circle.

"Local church in town…minister is a friend of my aunt's. He's stocked it ever since my Mom passed," I tell him.

He just looks at me for a few seconds; finally he shakes his head and asks the question I've been waiting for, "Where'd I screw up?"

"Earlier, back at the diner. I almost didn't even notice it myself, but you should have known better than to show yourself to the king of the tricksters. He's the one that put it all into perspective for me," I say. He just looks at me waiting for me to tell him what he did. "You said us."

I didn't know if it would be that great confusing an angel, but trust me it is. "Excuse me?" he asks.

"When you had me pinned to the tree, remember? You said and I quote, 'you are nothing compared to US, and yet you're family has done nothing but cause US pain and misery.' That's when I realized that you didn't work for my enemies – the angels – you are one. Also, it was the way you talked about your 'employers' or should I say brothers?" I ask him with a smile on my face. Yes, I am enjoying this way more than I should be, but after all the problems he's caused me I deserve to enjoy it.

He just gives me a tired look, "Meaning?"

"Let's call it personal experience, but no one gets that emotional unless they're talking about their own family," I tell him.

He just turns his head and looks over to the side. "So which one are you?" I ask, remembering that I don't even know which angel I'm talking to. "Grumpy, Sneezy, or Douchey?"

He slowly turns his head back and looks at me for a few seconds before he says, "Gabriel, okay? They call me Gabriel."

My mouth falls open in shock. I open and close it a few times trying to get the words out. _WHAT?_ "Gabriel? The archangel?" I ask still trying to comprehend what I just heard. Oh, this just went from bad to extremely worse!

"Guilty," he says shrugging his shoulders. Well, I think I might have just found a way to stop him from talking considering that is the shortest sentence I have ever heard him say, ever.

"Okay, Gabriel," I say calming myself down. _I have to stay focused_ I remind myself. _Stay focused, please, he's a fricking archangel! I'm so screwed. _"How does an archangel become a trickster?"

"My own private witness protection," he starts. I just raise an eyebrow. "I skipped out of heaven, had a face transplant, and carved out my own little corner of the world…till your family had to go and screw it all up."

I look around for a second making sure we're the only two around. We screwed it up? How the hell is that our fault too? Wait. Did he just say he left heaven? How in heaven, hell and everything in between did he manage that? "You left heaven? What did Daddy say about that? Something tells me he couldn't have been too pleased to find out one of his sons ran away to join the pagans," I say. This can't get more confusing…can it?

"Daddy doesn't say anything about anything anymore. Hasn't for over two millennia," he tells me. Now I know I should be more shocked at that, but considering everything I've seen in my life that doesn't surprise me.

Now I gotta ask, "So what happened? Why'd you leave heaven to come here? Honestly it doesn't seem like the better trade off."

He doesn't say anything and just stares at me, contempt written all over his face. "Though I guess I can't blame you entirely. From what I've heard your brothers are heavy weight douche-nozzles," I say with all the seriousness in the world lacing my voice.

This pisses off Mr. Angel and he retaliates, "Shut your mouth! You don't know anything about my family. I love my father and my brothers. Don't ever doubt that! But during the fall, I had to watch them turn on each other…tear each other apart! I couldn't bear it, okay? So I left. And now, it is happening all over again thanks to you!"

Really? This is my fault too. " What in the hell are you talking about? How could my family have caused that? Besides God has to have some control over his own children," I say naively. What can I say? This angel shit is new to me…kinda.

"Weren't you listening? God is gone, has been for about two thousand years. He left, and now my brothers are forced to make all the decisions. Why? I don't know. All I know is that all the chaos and death up there is your family's fault," he says firmly.

I roll my eyes, "Okay, drama queen. Obviously my family has something to do with yours, but I don't see how we could have started a fight in heaven."

He sighs and begins the story, "A couple hundred years after Dad left, some of my brothers got tired of watching the humans running around and abusing all the things our father had blessed them with. They wanted to end the world and the human race and just let it be done with. Some of my other brothers, lead by Michael, still want to do Daddy's bidding and refused to let the others destroy the planet. My other brothers backed down because none of them are stupid enough to go up against Michael and his allies.

Then their saving grace came when the first power child was born, the first Levine. The hunter gene had surfaced long before this mind you, but now the rebels had a way to fight Michael. My brothers figured that if they could get this extraordinary child to help them do their bidding then there was no way that Michael could win. And you know what? It's very possible that it is true. Arianna – that was the first child's name – refused, and Michael had already found out about the others' plan. Thus began a civil war that has lasted longer than the great Fall of Lucifer."

I stood there for a minute, taking in all this information that I was just given. Civil war in heaven? All because some rebel angels wanted my ancestor's power to overthrow the most powerful archangel in history? All these years I've prayed to God for help because I was always taught that he is there for us, and now I'm finding out that God isn't there and it's his sons that have caused us all these problems. They want to end the world using me as their own version of the Atom Bomb…_my life is a frickin' soap opera._

I step toward Gabriel, my own contempt flashing in my eyes. Does he really think this is okay? I look him dead in the eyes and ask him, "Wait one second. You have been trying to help your rebel brothers for the past couple of days; at least I'm assuming you're on their side since you've been trying to get me to join them. Are you telling me you really want to see the end of the world? Is that what you want?"

Pain flashes in his eyes and he screams at me, "I want it to be over! I have to sit back and watch my brothers kill each other thanks to you. Michael, the rebels I don't care who wins. I just want it to be over, but it can't even really start until you're powers are in the hands of my brothers. I just need it to be over. Don't you see?"

The sad thing is, I kind of do understand him. He has had to watch the people he cares about die at the hands of other people that he cares about. He is hurt and confused and I feel bad for him, but he is so blinded by pain and misery that he hasn't even thought about what he is doing to end this war. "It doesn't have to be like that, Gabriel. There's got to be a way to end this – to stop your brothers! Without them using me as an MK-40, and you know exterminating the entire human race!" I scream in his face. If he thought explaining this to me would make me more likely to help him, he has obviously been observing the wrong hunter the last couple of years.

"Oh, you do not know my family! This isn't about something as simple as a war! This is about a family who loved each other and then betrayed each other. That's why there is no stopping this," he explains. Yeah, I guess I never did consider that. Why? Because I'm not coldhearted enough to betray my family, and so I'd never have to think about it!

"Gabriel, I'm sorry. I honestly am. But you can take your civil war and shove it up your ass because I'm not helping you and I never will. So you can tell your Big Brothers that they can eat me. I'll die before I'll help them," I tell him with a smirk on my face. I'm nowhere near weak enough to fall apart at something as stupid as this.

Gabriel looks at me and lets out a whistle. "You sorry little bitch. You don't get it do you? You think you have a choice in the matter? You don't. Why? Because this is your destiny. It was always you! This is what you were born to do. And about that whole dying thing? Oh there will be a lot of that, but it won't be you. My brothers need you, your friends however…" he trails off smiling at me.

I glare at him and step right up to the holy fire. "You know I wouldn't be making threats if I were you. You don't exactly have anywhere to run this time," I remind him motioning to the holy fire. "And I'm still not doing it."

"You were born to this, Vitalani. You don't have a choice," he says.

I back away a few feet. "Bull crap I don't. It's not going to happen," I tell him. He can believe in this destiny shit all he wants, but I'm not stupid enough to think that. They've been trying for generations to get one of us do this, and now since I'm the current "power child" it's my destiny. Yeah, I may be naïve when it comes to this angel shit, but God did grace me with more sense than he gave paste which means I'm not falling for it.

"I'm sorry, but it is," he says seriously. I believe he really does feel sorry, I don't honestly think he wants me to have to do this, but I also know he would much rather see me die than see his brothers die. I can't say I totally blame him for that.

He sighs and looks back at me, "Look, I really wish you didn't have to do this. I wish this was just another one of those bad dreams you have, but this is real and it's going to end bloody for everybody involved. That's just how it's gotta be."

I look down at the concrete for a few seconds in thought. There's no way he's right, I can't let him be. I look back up at him and stare. Minutes pass and we just look at each other, every emotion possible flashing across our eyes. This is a war neither of us wants and both of us were dragged into. The only difference is? I've realized there's a third party. It's not just the rebels vs. the angels. No, they forgot about one group. The humans. And you know – even though I often lose faith in humanity – I like them best.

Finally Gabriel breaks the silence, "So, Gibbs, now what? We just stare at each other for the rest of eternity?"

"Well, first things first," I start. "My friends don't have anything to do with this holy mess, and you are going to stop your assault on them."

He scoffs and looks at me as if he just found what I said funny, "Oh, am I?"

I look down at the ground and walk toward him a few steps. "Yeah. Or I am going to dunk you in some holy oil and deep-fry myself an Archangel," I stop walking and look up at him on the last word. Anyone else want to come to a barbecue?

A couple moments of silence pass before he finally gives in. "Fine, I'll leave your wittle friends alone. I can't say the same thing for my brothers though so I wouldn't be feeling too safe just yet," he reminds me.

"I don't ever feel safe," I tell him and begin to walk away. I get a few feet before I turn around and give him one last piece of advice. "And for the record, this isn't about some huge prize fight between your brothers or some destiny that can't be stopped. This is about you being too afraid to stand up to your brothers."

I use my powers and bring down the holy fire, "Don't say I never did anything for you." I am about to walk away before I remember one thing. I walk two steps toward him and reach down pulling the angel killing knife out of my boot. His eyes widen upon seeing it, he obviously did not expect me to have it. _Oh well that's his problem _I think cheerfully.

I get closer to him and put the blade in front of my face. "If you ever come near or threaten my friends again…you better hope your brothers have found me first," I say making my intentions perfectly clear.

Turning back around I begin walking toward the stairway down to the main building. I hear a flutter from behind me and think _Crap!_ I whip around with the blade raise high and bring it down immediately. Blood splatters across the concrete and a gasp escapes into the blooming daylight.

Kiara's POV (45 minutes earlier)

_Why the hell am I up?_ I complain in my head. For some reason I just couldn't sleep last night, it was like something was – well is – bothering me. Considering it is still dark outside I guess I can't technically say it was last night I didn't get any sleep. Oh well, I've never been one for technicalities…that's Vitalani's thing.

I walk into the kitchen and see Loki already in there…and looking in deep thought too. He didn't even notice me enter, so I think I'm going to have some fun with him. I walk up behind him and lean my head down by his ear. "Whatcha doing?" I yell.

He jumps about a foot high and I double over laughing. Loki turns and glares at me and I just give him an innocent smile. He rolls his eyes and asks, "What are you doing up?"

"Couldn't sleep. I don't know…something just isn't feeling right. I feel like something is wrong," I try to explain how I'm feeling to the secret love of my life.

He nods and looks back down. I give him a curious look and ask, "What's eating you?"

Loki looks at me for a second and sighs, "Tally got back from dealing with another situation, and this time that bastard used Thor. No, don't look like that she took care of it before anything bad happened."

I give a sigh of relief, "Well if she took care of it then what's worrying you? Is it the trickster?"

"Kinda. You see…he's not a trickster, and I told Vitalani that," he says and winces expecting a very violent reaction from me.

I just raise an eyebrow, "So you told her…what's the big deal?"

"After I told her, she seemed to realize something. I don't know what it was she just screamed 'shit' and ran away. I feel the same way you say you do. I think she might have done something stupid because of what I told her. You know how protective of us she is and with how much trouble that thing has been causing…I just don't know," he rambles.

I sit there in complete shock. He is feeling the same worry I am; only it seems that he knows why. I push my chair back and race from the room. I can hear Loki following me and we both arrive in the elevator. "What are you doing?" he asks.

"Going to her room to check on her," I say firmly and the doors open. I race out of there and run down to her room, Loki not even two steps behind me.

I knock on the door, but don't receive an answer. Already I'm getting a bad feeling about this. I try the door to find it unlocked. I look back at Loki and he just nods telling me to go in. I let out a breath and push the door open. I flip the light switch on and the room is immediately illuminated, however; Vitalani is not in it. On the bed are her mother's journal and a piece of paper. I walk over and pick up the piece of paper while Loki looks at the journal.

"It looks like her mother left her a letter to explain to her how to take care of those enemies that the man was – Hey what's wrong?" he asks coming to me obviously seeing my face. I kept staring at the letter not fully believing what I read.

I turn back to Loki with tears in my eyes. "She knows who they are…who the trickster and the enemies really are…and she went after them alone. She said she needed to protect us and that no matter what happens we'll be safe. My God what has she done? Loki, what…" I trail off I can't even comprehend what may be happening to her right at this very moment.

Loki comes up and hugs me tight rubbing my back with one of his hands. I grip onto his shirt and pull my face out of his chest. "We need to find her and fast," I tell him. _She might still be okay_ I try to convince myself.

"We need to get the other Avengers. They will be able to help," I nod and am about to leave the room when I stall, a horrified look on my face.

"What is it?" he asks worried all over again.

I look at him, "What about Steve?"

Loki's eyes go wide at the notion. If Vitalani is in danger or hurt, Steve is going to be absolutely crushed. He loves her and she loved – loves – him. Vitalani needs to be okay. She deserves to be happy for once in her life and I know she can be with Steve. They need to tell each other. No one deserves love more than those two…no one.

Shaking his head, Loki just grabs my hand and takes me to the elevator. We go up to the top floor to the meeting room. I'm surprised to see everyone but Natasha already up. They are just chatting away like it is any other day. They turn upon hearing the door open and smile.

"What are you all doing up?" Loki asks. _Really? Is now the best time to be asking that?_

Thor comes up and puts his arm around my shoulder. "Well with this whole trickster business all of us are far too on edge to sleep," he says and gives me a quick peck on the cheek.

"He's not a trickster," I whisper. Everyone looks at me weird, finally noticing my grief-stricken expression.

"What did you say, Fang?" Hawkeye asks.

"What's wrong?" Captain immediately follows Hawkeye's question with one of his own.

I remove myself from Thor and walk over to the window staring out into the still dark city. Somewhere out there Vitalani is risking her life to save us. I turn around and look at them a feral look in my eyes, "He's not a trickster!"

Everyone is out of their seats immediately and choruses of what are you talking about and are you insane go around the room.

"Shut up!" Loki screams quieting everyone down. "Thank you. Listen, Vitalani came back here around midnight last night after dealing with this guy's version of Thor and I had to tell her what I knew. I'm the father of all tricksters – it took awhile because the guy's act was almost flawless – but I figured out he wasn't one. However, Vitalani was the one who found out who he really is."

Steve stands up with a worried and anxious expression on his face and asks, "Where is she?"

_Damn. I really wish he was stupid right about now._ "I've had an uneasy feeling all night, so when Loki told me that we went to her room to check on her. We found this," I tell them while laying the note on the table.

Stark immediately snatches it up and reads it over. His eyes widen and I see tears begin to form in the corners. He reads it out loud.

_Dear Kiara,_

_I'm sorry to have to tell you this and you are probably thinking of about fifteen different ways to kill me right about now, but I went after the trickster. You see it turns out he's not a trickster, he's one of them. I found a way to kill and trap them in Mom's diary. Turns out I had a way to do it all along. I called Aunt Trace and she told me what they really are and you would never believe it. If I make it back, I promise to tell you everything. Right now I'm going to go and put an end to this jackass. I might be back, I might not, but that's the price I've got to pay to keep all of you safe. I love you all so much, you've all been so great to me these past few months, and how do I repay you? By leading you into a battle you can't win and one you shouldn't have to fight. If I defeat him that's one more person out of the way and if I die…then you won't have to worry about anyone coming after you because of me…except maybe Dad and Ziva. I'd watch out for them. Once again I love you all and I'm so, so sorry._

_Love, _

_Vitalani Gibbs_

I look around the room and everyone is close to tears. Bruce is over there shaking trying to hold down his anger, Pepper is crying, Tony is comforting her while trying to keep himself in check, and Thor and Loki look the same as I do…depressed. I look over at Steve. His head is down, his fists clenched at his side, and tears are rolling down his face. My heart breaks for him. He loves her and he may never get to tell her. I couldn't imagine being in his place right now.

"So what the hell are we going to do about this?" Hawkeye asks really pissed off. He respects Vitalani a lot…even though his girlfriend doesn't.

"We're going to find her," a firm whisper is heard throughout the room. Everyone turns and looks at Steve. I walk over to him and put my hand on his shoulder and I give it a squeeze to reassure him that we are going to do precisely that.

Thor looks at us and asks, "How? She could be anywhere in the city."

I turn to Bruce, "Can you track her cell phone? I'm sure she has it with her. Vitalani has never been one to leave without it and she never turns it off."

"It's worth a try," he says. Bruce walks over to the computer and begins typing away and Tony goes to help him.

I feel the captain's shoulders shake and realize that he is on the verge of absolutely losing his mind. "You should sit," I tell him gently. He just shakes his head and walks over to the window and looks out into the city. No doubt he is thinking the same thing that I was earlier.

I want to go over and comfort him, but I know that nothing I say right now will help. The only thing that is going to make him feel better is Vitalani, back at the mansion, safe. Everyone sits in silence for awhile just losing themselves in their own thoughts…I don't know how long it is before someone breaks the silence. It feels like forever.

"We need her," Pepper whispers from over in her corner. Everyone looks at her, even Steve raises his head a little from where it was resting on the window. "I know everyone in this room is strong, but no one can protect us like she can. Besides Tony, there has never been another person in the world who has given me such a sense of security. What are we suppose to do if she isn't around? What are we going to do if she's-"

Steve violently cuts her off. "Stop! Just stop! She isn't dead and she isn't going to die. That girl is far too strong to just let some evil bastard kill her. She isn't dead, she isn't. She can't be…" he trails off whispering the last bits. I sit on the floor and bury my head in my knees and let silent tears slip down my cheeks. Loki comes over and sits with me. No one in this room wants to find her dead. No one. So now that we're faced with this issue, we don't know what to do. We can't just fix this.

"I can't believe she blamed herself," Hawkeye says. That's the thought everyone has had in their minds, but no one has had the guts to say.

"Vitalani's always been like that," I say while wiping at my eyes. "She never wants to tell people about her problems. She feels like when she does she is putting her needs above everyone else, and so she just bottles everything up. When this guy showed up saying he was going to make us pay for her not joining the goon squad, she took it hard. Vitalani really does care about everyone here, some more than others," I whisper looking at Steve, "And she felt like it was her putting us in danger…not this guy. She probably thought this was her only option."

"It wasn't. She would never…could never hurt us," Steve whispers.

"I know she wouldn't. We all do," I tell him. Everyone in the room nods because they all know that Vitalani – no matter how hard her exterior may seem – does actually care.

I'm about to say something else when Bruce yells out, "I've got her! She's at an abandoned warehouse not even ten minutes from here. We're superheroes…it'll take us two!"

We all nod and hurry out the door grabbing our weapons. I make sure my sais are in place as I look over at Steve who is hurriedly putting on his shield. I walk over to him and put my hand on his arm, I need to give him some advice before we leave.

"Steve," I start.

"Hm?" he asks in return looking up slowly. His eyes are filled with pain and heartache, it is almost impossible to believe that this is the Steve I've known for so long.

"When we get back, you've got to tell her. You've got to tell Vitalani that you love her. Don't try to object, all right? I know you do. Tony told me about what almost happened in the training room and I know about what happened after the Shtriga case. She loves you too, I know she does. You can't go through life always wondering 'what if'…you need to do this because these things aren't just going to give up. You don't know how long you have left with her," I tell him.

He just looks at me for a second before quickly nodding his head. "I know I do. I've meant to tell her for awhile now, but things just kept getting in the way. I waited too long, but I won't anymore," he tells me before leaving out the door.

I smile after him and can't help but think how lucky Vitalani is. If only I had enough guts to tell Loki…

Vitalani's POV

I look at my hand which is holding the knife that is now imbedded in Gabriel's chest. I look him in the eyes before looking down at his hand which is holding the knife that is imbedded in the spot just under my left ribcage.

Glaring up at him, I can see he is trying to tell me something, but I don't care. I pull the blade upward and an animalistic scream fills the air. White light comes out of his mouth and eye sockets before I pull the blade out. Gabriel's body/vessel falls to the ground, I can see his wings spread out around him. I want to feel sorry for him and later – if I have a later – I'm sure I will.

I stumble backward and begin choking on my own breath. My right hand grabs onto the blade's hilt and I shut my eyes tight and pull. "Ah!" I have to bite my lip to keep the screaming in. The hand comes back to cover the wound, blood immediately covers it. It's everywhere…my blood is soaking my shirt and the ground beneath me. _I can't breathe…God it hurts!_ I think to myself.

Slightly falling, I grip onto the ledge of the roof to steady myself while still holding on to my side. _I should have expected this… I should have been more careful! I should have remembered rule 11: When the job is done, walk away. I guess I just couldn't resist showing him the knife. I had to be one hundred percent sure he wouldn't come after Ste—I mean the Avengers._

I fall to the ground, leaning against the wall surrounding the roof. My right leg is close to my chest while my left is straight out. God the blood is coming out so fast. Why is it so hard to breathe? What is this black haze around my eyes?

Off in the distance I hear a noise, I don't know how close or far it is. Everything sounds like I'm in a tunnel. My vision is slowly fading…my breathing is either coming out really fast or barely at all, I just know it's hard to do…my side hurts – God it hurts! Why did Gabriel get off so easy, damnit! My body slides down off the wall and I'm completely on the floor now. I'm looking straight up at the sky and all I can wonder is: _is this what you wanted, God? This what you've been waiting for?_ I let out another loud groan as a shooting pain flashes across the wound in my side.

_Footsteps?_ I wonder weakly. _I swear I can hear footsteps…maybe voices?_ Suddenly my vision, what little of it remains, is obstructed by something…or someone kneeling on my right side. A large, warm hand lifts my head up while another covers the one I'm holding on my abdomen. I can tell the person is trying to speak, but I just can't hear what they are saying to me…I can't.

I focus all the energy I have on trying to hear them…trying to see them. "Tally, oh God. No…Tally you've got to stay with me. Baby, please! Please, it's me…it's Steve," Steve! Thank God! "Please…you've got to stay awake. I'm so sorry for letting this happen to you, but you can't fall asleep…you really need to stay awake," He chokes out his voice cracking.

Reaching up a hand, I rest it on his cheek. He lays my head on his knee and brings the hand that was supporting it up to cover the one on his face. My thumb caresses his cheek until I can't hold it up any longer and it falls down by my side. I can feel his body shaking and suddenly there are wet drops landing on my face. _He's crying,_ I think.

My face scrunches up in pain as another flash hits, but after a second a smile replaces the grimace. I'm just so glad he's here. "Steve…" I trail of.

"Don't. Don't waste the energy. Kiara's called an ambulance…they'll be here soon," he assures me.

"I'm sorry, Steve. I'm sorry for getting you into this. I knew this could happen, but I stayed anyway because…because…because I couldn't stay away from you. I needed my Captain…I still do. This is for the best though. No douche bag angels will come after you now…you're safe and that's all I want for you…"

"Stop. Please stop talking!" he begs me. More drops land on my face.

"I just need to tell you one thing…" the blackness is coming in faster…my breath so much slower…not a lot of pain…just numbness…I feel so numb.

He just shakes his head and begs me once more not to do this.

I give him a weak smile. My eyes slip shut, they are too heavy to hold open any longer. I hear a scream…maybe my name? I can't tell. I think somebody is lifting me up…taking me somewhere? There is a hold on my hand I can barely feel. _I just need some sleep_ I assure myself. I can't keep myself awake anymore…the darkness is just too inviting. But I've got to say it first.

"…I love you."

I hear a frantic beeping then blackness…silence…nothingness.


	12. I Need You

I Need You

Steve's POV

"_Stop. Please stop talking!" I beg her, the tears falling faster down my face. This can't be happening…not her…not now!_

"_I just need to tell you one thing…" she struggles to talk to me. I know she can't keep this up, she doesn't have enough energy! God there's so much blood. Why did she have to go alone?_

_I frantically shake my head and ask once more, "Vitalani please don't do this. Please!"_

_She gives me a weak smile and her eyes slowly close. "Vitalani!" I scream out at her. I turn my head; I can hear the sirens below. I pick up her cold, limp body and get her down to the ambulance as quickly as I can. They immediately hook her up to a heart monitor to check her heart rate._

"_It's weak. We need to hurry," one of the EMTs say._

_I still have a tight hold on her hand and am talking to her, telling her she's going to be fine. She's got to be fine; she's just got to be! The attendants are hooking her up to an IV. Her eyes slowly open, just a crack, and she smiles again before whispering, "I love you."_

_The monitor begins beating rapidly. "There's no heartbeat! We've got to go!" the EMT yells at the driver. They push me back and close the doors before driving off toward the hospital._

_I just stand there staring at the ambulance as it disappears from sight. I can't move. She loves me…she said she loves me, and now I may never get the chance to say it back. More tears begin to sting my eyes as I reach up my hand and touch the spot on my face where her hand was not too long ago. She called them angels. Angels did this to her. What the hell did that amazing woman do to them to deserve this mess?_

_A hand places itself on my shoulder. I turn around and see Tony standing there his eyes are red rimmed just like mine probably are. He just squeezes my shoulder and tells me that we need to leave. I nod and all of us make our way to the hospital. _

_Vitalani, please be okay. I need you._

That moment a week ago plays constantly in my head like a song on repeat. I haven't left her room or her side in that same amount of time. Yes, I said her room. The doctor thought it best that if…no, when…when she wakes up that she is in a place that is familiar to her. Honestly, I think he was just having bad Thor flashbacks, but I agree with him. She should be here, she belongs here.

The beeping of the heart monitor that she is hooked up to has been my only source of comfort these last couple of days. The thing that originally made me think she was dead is now the only thing assuring me that she is alive. She is also hooked up to an IV drip so she can continually get the fluids she needs. She can't very well get them herself.

I don't think my heart has ever heart so much. I have to constantly stop my mind from wandering to those dark places – the places where there is no hope and she isn't coming back. I try to concentrate on what the doctor told us, but even that doesn't bring much comfort.

"_The surgery went well. She lost a lot of blood, but she is strong and has the potential to make a full recovery. Remember, her body and mind has received a big shock. Whether she comes out of this or not relies on her willingness to. Only she can decide her fate."_

What the hell is that suppose to mean? Of course she wants to come out of this. Vitalani is too prideful and stubborn to just take this lying down. She won't die, I won't let her. Not after what she told me.

"_I love you."_

I almost didn't believe it at first. She loves me? Like I love her? I can feel the tears stinging at my eyes again. I can't believe that I still have enough fluid in my body to continue crying. It's heart wrenching really. I always wanted to hear her say those words and I finally did, but now I may never get to say them back. Life is too cruel sometimes…too damn cruel!

Suddenly there was a light knocking on the door. "Steve?" a voice whispers into the room. I force myself to tear my eyes away from Vitalani's sleeping form to see Tony standing in the open doorway.

"What?" I ask in a harsher voice then I intended. I just really don't feel like dealing with him right now.

He sighs and walks over to me, putting his hand on my shoulder. "Vitalani's aunt is here. She's going to tell us what really happened to Tally and what's happening with the…angels," he gets out. Tony, like everyone else, was shocked when I told them that Vitalani said we would be safe from the angels. She said angels. I still can't believe it myself.

"So?" I ask again. My eyes are still focused on Tally. I haven't felt like saying anything to anyone since this happened. I don't want to talk to anyone except her.

Tony grabs both of my shoulders, forces me to my feet, and looks me in the eyes. "Stop. Stop doing this to yourself. Have you seen yourself? You look even deader than Vitalani and she's the one in a coma!"

That brought me out of my trance-like state. I slammed him into the wall and looked him in the eye. "Shut the hell up, Stark! She's not dead! Don't compare her to the goddamned dead!" I scream at him, tears falling freely again.

He obviously realized his mistake and calms down. "Steve," he starts softly. "No one likes what has happened here, but it has happened. We can't change that. You have to realize that watching you suffer makes us suffer, too. You're our friend, Steve. We care about what you're going through. I can't say I know how you feel because I've never felt anything close to this. But just imagining Pepper going through what V is…it hurts. God it really hurts and I am so, so sorry that you have to go through this. Right now, however; you need to know exactly why the woman you love is being targeted…why she is really on that bed…why she almost died."

I take a shaky breath and slowly back away from Tony. I take a few moments to calm down and raise my hand to wipe at the tears on my face. After I look up at Stark and nod my head, we both head up to the meeting room.

When we arrive, we see all the Avengers – minus one of course – seated around the table and one unknown woman who I'm going to assume is Tracend. She looks a lot like Vitalani…so much it hurts. She has black hair, tan skin, but she has green eyes instead of blue. The woman looks at us and smiles. Fury walks up to the front of the room and tells everyone to calm down and us to be seated. "This is Tracend Levine, Vitalani's aunt. She says she has information about what happened seven days ago. I know most of you don't have the manners of a wild boar, but pretend you do and be respectful," he says before taking his own seat.

Trace sighs and begins pacing near where Fury was just previously standing. "I'm not sure exactly how to explain this to you all. This is a complicated problem…one that has been the burden of the Levine's – and the Levine's only – for almost 1500 years. However, I know how much you care about Vitalani, so I'll try my best to explain it all. Just listen first and then ask questions. Please. This is hard enough for me as it is. She's the only child of my dead sister…and she is now living the same dreadful reality as the rest of us."

Then she begins the story.

_20 minutes later_

Everyone had their jaws virtually on the floor by the time she was finished. This cannot be happening…there's no way! God's gone? An angel rebellion? A divine civil war? This is why Vitalani is lying in that bed? I can't believe this. Not in my wildest dreams did I believe that this would be the reason that she was in danger…the reason she's always been in danger.

"So you are telling us that God has disappeared and his sons are split between destroying the world and doing what their father commanded? And to be able to defeat Michael, the rebels need Vitalani's powers because there is no way they can do it themselves? You really expect us to believe that?" Natasha asks uncertain. I don't blame her…this is beyond comprehension.

Tracend nods and looks at us with a serious face. "I know this is a lot to take in, but you asked me to explain it to you. This is it. Now, I don't know why Gabriel decided to stab Vitalani if his original goal was to bring her to his brothers, but I'm going to assume it is because he actually wanted to help her," she explains.

"Help her? How the hell is killing her helping her?" I ask. There is absolutely no logic behind that. Killing somebody is ending their life…ending all they mean to the world. How is that helping?

"Gabriel sympathizes with Vitalani. He knows what it is like to be stuck in the middle of something…to have to make an impossible choice. I highly doubt he really wanted to see her dead, but he also didn't want to see his brothers die. Maybe he assumed that by killing her, the rebellion would stop and it would all be over. Like I said I don't know. It's just what I'm assuming," she says.

We all sit there for a few more minutes contemplating what she said. I don't care if he did think he was helping her…I hope he rots. I hope they all do. I've spent my entire life believing in what the bible taught me. I always trusted in God, and now it turns out they are all nothing but glorified asses.

Tracend checks her watch and grabs her bag. "I've got to go. I have a meeting with a few hunter friends of mine. They need to be updated on the situation," she says. She starts for the door but stops just short. "Oh, and my brother in law and a couple of other NCIS agents are on their way. They should be here tomorrow. If I were you guys, I'd have my armor on when they get here."

"That ain't no lie," Kiara mumbles, looking sheepishly at the table.

Tracend leaves and everyone turns to look at Kiara. She sighs, "They are all very protective of her. They even told her that nothing would stop them from coming up here and hurting us if anything happened to her. Well, something's happened and they're pissed as hell. Her dad is heartbroken and he's a former marine who has half the U.S. government scared shitless of him. Ziva is virtually an assassin and Tony…well he's like our Tony, but Vitalani might as well be a sister to both of them. This meeting isn't going to end well."

"It shouldn't," I whisper. Everyone looks at me now with inquisitive eyes. "We were careless. Vitalani knew we couldn't protect ourselves so she took it upon herself to do it for us. We're a team and we are supposed to watch out for each other. It's like Pepper said, we need her and we took that for granted."

They all just stared at me, the sympathy clear in their gaze. Tony is about to say something, but I'm not waiting around to hear it. I stand up and walk out the door and make my way to the elevator. I get there and I see Trace talking on the phone. The door opens and we both get in pressing the floor numbers for our destination.

She looks up at me before taking a big breath in. "You're Steve, right?"

I just give a tight nod in response still not really wanting to talk to anybody. "I figured you are exactly as Tally described," she starts. That shocked me. Vitalani had described me? "She talked about you like you were God in human form. She really cares about you."

"I know," I whisper.

"_I love you."_

I shake my head and push the tears back. _Not again. Please. I don't want to think about that again. Why can't people just stop bringing this up?_ I scream inside my own mind.

"You should feel honored. Vitalani has always had a hard time caring about people. She's never cared for anyone the way she cares for you. As torn up over the incident as you are, I'd say you feel the same," she observes.

I nod once again, "I do feel that way…on both accounts. I love her. It's as simple as that."

She nods and looks down. I feel as though she wants to say something to me, but isn't sure she should. I think I know what it is though. Vitalani told me that her aunt was never very close to her. They are more like colleagues than family. Vitalani always understood why though, and she never blamed Tracend for acting the way she had. She lost her big sister and now she is being forced to face losing her only niece. A niece she never really got to know, and she feels bad about that.

The elevator doors open and I step out, but I put my hand in front of the doors to keep them from closing just yet. "She loves you and she knows you love and care about her too," I say softly and then let the doors close. I had to say it…and she needed to hear it.

I walk back to Vitalani's room and upon entering I see that everything is still the same. Vitalani is still unconscious and hooked up to those machines that I both hate and appreciate. I walk over, but don't sit on the chair that I've occupied for the last week. Instead I sit on the edge of her queen sized bed and look at her. Even though she's been in a coma she still looks absolutely breathtaking. She looks as if she will be waking up any minute like nothing has happened.

Absentmindedly my hand comes up and cups her face as my thumb caresses up and down her cheek. _My Vitalani_ I think with a small smile. I don't know how long I sit there doing this, but eventually I feel my eyes begin to become too heavy to stay open. I reluctantly move from my spot on the bed and sit on the chair that I've occupied for what seems like an eternity. As I finally let my eyes slip shut and rest I can't stop myself from asking _is this how she felt? Too tired to continue staying awake? Maybe even too tired to live…_

_The next morning_

It is about nine o'clock when I finally woke from my fitful sleep. Every few hours I wake up in a cold sweat because I keep dreaming that Vitalani has…well you know, so I wake up to check on her. Every time I hear the steady beeping of the heart monitor and see the rise and fall of her chest in time with her breathing. I rub a hand over my face and decide I need to go take a shower and get changed. I lean down a place a kiss on Vitalani's forehead before walking down the hall, around a corner, and into my room.

After my shower, I get dressed in a pair of dark jeans, a white t-shirt, and my combat boots. I decide that I really need to walk around for a little while…maybe I'll do a little boxing later. Of course, that may just be my desire to punch something – Gabriel – in the face. Getting into the elevator, I figure I might as well see what everyone else is up to.

In the meeting room, Tony, Banner, Fury, Coulson, Kiara, Thor, and Loki are all hanging around and looking a little on edge about something. "What's got you guys so worried?" I ask grabbing a cup of coffee from over by the bar. Not all of us drink like Tony does, okay?

"Don't you remember what Tracend said?" Coulson asks. "She said that Vitalani's friends and father from NCIS are going to be here today!"

I give him a blank stare. "So?" I question.

Everyone looks at me like I've gone back-shit crazy. "We all knew this was coming," I start. "She's his only daughter and like family to the rest of them. When they were informed of what had happened it was kind of inevitable that they'd come."

Apparently no one knows what to say to that, instead everyone just looks down at their hands. Nobody wants to talk about this. It's painful enough just experiencing it ourselves and now we have to explain to a man that his only daughter was almost killed on our watch. I hope he does hurt us…well, me at least. I'm not going to act like I don't deserve it.

We just sit in silence for a long time; no one tries to start a conversation or tries to further analyze the situation. We just sit. About ten minutes later, Jarvis' voice interrupts the silence. "Sir," he starts.

"What Jarvis?" Tony asks tiredly.

"I'm sorry, Sir. I tried to make them wait, but they are dead set on seeing you," he explains nervously.

"Who-" Tony is cut off by the door to the meeting room slamming open.

Four people enter the room. One is a man with gray hair and blue eyes, he has a pissed off look on his face and looks like he hasn't slept in days. _I'm betting my life that this is Jethro Gibbs, Vitalani's dad_ I think to myself. It is easy to see the resemblance. They both look like they could take on the devil when they're angry.

An equally as pissed off looking girl is with them. She is obviously of Middle Eastern descent and by the way she holds herself I'd say she's probably an assassin. This must be Ziva David. The man just behind her looks angry, but not quite to the point of murderous rage. He has short brown hair and has almost a playboy feel to him. Tony DiNozzo, I'd guess. That would make the last man Tim McGee. He just looks upset, and from what Tally told me he would be the most levelheaded at this exact moment.

Gibbs, the conscious one in case you hadn't already guessed, marches straight up to Nick Fury and slams him against the wall. The room shakes due to the force and already the Avengers closest to him are starting to back away. "I want an explanation and I want one fast," he says firmly. This guy isn't in the mood to play around.

I'm about to explain, but someone else speaks up before I get the chance. "Now hold on one minute," Thor starts. "I know you're upset but we all need to be calm and-" he is cut off by the woman, Ziva, grabbing his arm and flipping him to the ground. The fact that any mortal woman could pull that off scares me and everyone else in the room. I can see why her and V were close.

She is seething and glares at the half-conscious man on the floor. "There will be no holding on," she says in a heavy Israeli accent. "None of us were thrilled with the idea of Tally coming up here, but we knew that she needed to be around people she could relate to better so we let her leave."

"Yeah, of course we thought that being in a house full of superheroes would mean that she'd be safe," Tony, the NCIS one, added. "Guess we were wrong."

Tony, Avengers version, gets in his face and says, "Hey, we wanted to help her we really did, but we didn't know what to do. Hell, we didn't even know she'd left until it was too late. We're sorry she's hurt and we're just as upset as you are, but that doesn't mean you get to come in here and take it out on us!"

"Tony," Loki warns.

"What?" both of them turn their heads and glare at the demigod. Their heads turn back to face each other and say, "He was talking to me! No, he wasn't! Yes, he was!"

I know this is a serious moment, but this is just too good. Kiara puts a hand in front of her mouth to help hide her chuckle and I turn my head the other way to cover up my smirk. It doesn't last long though. Gibbs lets go of Fury's shirt, but doesn't get out of his face. "I understand you guys are not equipped with the knowledge on how to take care of these things. I'm perfectly aware of that. What I want to know is why she went off alone. I know why none of you went with her…because she would have knocked you out before you got two feet out the door. But my daughter isn't this stupid. So tell me you jackass…why?" This is a very reasonable man. Of course he's mad, I don't blame him for being mad, but it doesn't seem like he is really all that upset with us. More likely he's upset with himself and probably the angels.

I sigh, _he needs to know_. "Because of us," I whisper.

Slowly the older man turns around and gives me a hard, questioning look. I walk up to him and give a solute; he is a fellow soldier after all. He nods at me and I drop my hand before giving him the answers he came to find.

"Sir, the trickster or I guess angel, Gabriel, threatened us. He was trying to make it look like we were killing innocent people by using some sort of magic. He said he'd keep doing it until she agreed to help out the angels," I struggle to get the words out. "She wanted to protect us, but she had only just figured out what these things were herself, she wasn't ready. But you know your daughter, Sir. She wasn't going to let something like him live."

A small, proud smile crosses his face for a second before a look of anguish replaces it. He nods and thanks me. Coulson steps up and addresses the agents. "We understand how close all of you are to Vitalani. You are more than welcome to stay here for as long as you wish," he says.

Tony nods, "Yeah, we have more than enough rooms. You guys deserve to see her and be with her just as much as we do…probably even more."

"We appreciate that," McGee says.

This is when Kiara decides to intervene and says, "Now that everyone has calmed down, how about we give introductions. Ziva get your foot off of Thor's throat…I don't think he can breathe."

Ziva sighs and removes her foot before going to lean against the window. Everyone else sits down except me, I allow Agent Gibbs to take my seat. It is the least I can do. Kiara also remains standing and asks, "Is it all right if I make the introductions?" Everyone agrees since she is the only one who knows everyone in the room and she begins.

"Nick Fury, the director of SHIELD is the one that Gibbs almost murdered," she begins. She continues down the list pointing at each of us in turn. "Phil Coulson, an agent of SHIELD. He is the one that came with me to NCIS to retrieve Vitalani. We have two demigods; Thor, wielder of lightning, and Loki, the trickster. Hawkeye and Black Widow or Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff are both on missions. Bruce Banner aka the Hulk, no Tony don't even say it. Tony Stark aka Iron Man and his girlfriend Pepper. And finally we have Steve Rogers otherwise known as Captain America."

She finishes introducing the Avengers and moves on to introducing the NCIS agents, "This is Timothy McGee; he's a tech specialist and a graduate of MIT. Ziva David is a former Mossad agent and a native to Israel, she can kick your ass so Stark keep your mouth shut. Tony DiNozzo is virtually NCIS's own Tony Stark. You two might as well be the same exact person. Finally we have Leroy Jethro Gibbs. He was a gunnery sergeant in the Marine Core and is virtually the leader of NCIS. He is also, of course, Vitalani's father."

After introductions, Tony and Pepper agree to show these guys where it is that they will be staying. All of them leave and I decide to go back downstairs to see Vitalani for a little while longer. I know her friends and father are going to want to be alone with her after they get settled and I don't blame them, but I know that it means I won't get to be near her as often. That thought just tears at my very soul. If I'm not near her, I can't hear the comforting sound of the heart monitor telling me she's alive. I won't know! God damnit! If only we hadn't been so naïve. If only I knew then how much I need her…

_Three days later_

The last few days have felt almost mechanical. Most of the Avengers went about doing small missions and just keeping busy…that's how they deal with it. McGee, Tony, and Ziva had to leave to go back to work yesterday because NCIS could only run so long without them. While they were here, however; they were with Vitalani virtually 24/7. The director of NCIS, Shepard, has allowed Gibbs as much time off as he wants. He deserves that much. He's with her right now. I can only imagine what seeing your only daughter in such a state would do to a person.

Me…I've been with Vitalani whenever I can. In between visits I've mostly been boxing to relieve stress or just sitting in my room. Each day I just get even more numb, more depressed. The violent pains have virtually passed, but I still wake up in the middle of the night covered in a cold sweat. I don't know how much longer I can take this.

Right now I'm lying on my bed just staring at the ceiling. It's 11:49 p.m. according to the clock by my bedside. I haven't been able to turn my mind off for the last two hours. Each day it is getting harder to stop my mind from wandering to the darker side of the situation. People keep bringing it up too. They say it may be time to face reality…she may not come out of it. She's been through so much already. I'm not sure I'd want to come back to a world that is full of things that want me dead. Maybe I'm being selfish in wanting her to come back, but I can't help it.

Finally I decide to give up on sleep and go to the kitchen to get something to drink. I have to pass Vitalani's room to get to the elevator. I can see the light from under the door which tells me that her father is still visiting her. I'm not sure he's left there all day. I quickly walk by. I don't want to interrupt his time with his daughter…no matter how much I want to be with her myself.

I enter the kitchen and immediately begin making some strong coffee. I'm not in the mood to deal with sleep and all the baggage it brings with it tonight. I sit down at the counter and look at the stool next to me. I see her sitting there next to me like she did that night we talked about our pasts. That night was one of the happiest nights of my life. If I knew that a few months later she may not be around, I might have told her then straight out how I felt.

I'm not sure how long I allowed myself to take a painful stroll down memory lane, but I do know that it was the sound of the door opening that broke me out of my daydream. "Sorry I figured everyone else was asleep," a gruff voice says.

Looking up I see Jethro standing in the doorway. I shake my head, "I don't sleep much, Sir. After seventy years of nothing but sleep, it doesn't sound as appealing as it use to."

He nods and looks around the room. His eyes stop on the now finished coffee and asks, "Mind if I grab a cup?"

I shake my head and get up to grab a cup for myself. After filling up the cups, we both sit down at the granite counter. We just sit in silence, sipping our coffee for the longest time. Finally I can't hold it in anymore and I have to ask, "How is she?"

Gibbs looks at me from the corner of his eye. "The same," he says simply.

I nod in return and don't try to push the subject any farther. I didn't want to talk to anyone a couple of days ago…I'm sure he's feeling the same way. After a few more moments, he turns and looks at me. "You're the soldier, right?"

"Yes, Sir," I respond.

"When I was young, I thought that there could be nothing more rewarding in this world than being a soldier. When I met Shannon, I realized how little I actually knew about evil and sacrifice and saving people," he says. That is something I understand perfectly.

I continue on with his line of thinking, "You are raised to believe that the most evil thing in this world is humans. You aren't taught to fear the monster under your bed or to even believe it really exists. People like your former wife and Vitalani are by far the bravest, most amazing people in the world. I don't think I really knew what it was like to be a true soldier until I met the shadow soldier."

There was a small pause. "She talked about you a lot. Seems to think you are a worthy contributor to the world, an overall good man. Doesn't seem like she was wrong. Though she hardly ever is," he says lightly.

I blush lightly and look away. "I honestly don't deserve such compliments, Sir. She's the good person. I've never met a more loyal, devoted, and selfless person in my life," I say honestly. "From the way she talks, I'd say she gets that from you. She really loves and respects you, Sir."

He smiles for a brief moment, but then lets out a sigh and looks me straight in the eyes. "Do you love my daughter?" he asks straight out. Wow, well at least now I know where Vitalani gets the bluntness from.

"Yes," I admit. No point denying it now. After all of this, I fully intend on telling her my feelings when she wakes up. Wouldn't do me any good to start lying to the father.

"Good," he starts. I give him a look and he finishes his thought. "My daughter has never been one to fall in love. When she started talking about Captain America, I knew what she was thinking. You do seem to be a good person. From everything I've heard and found out about you, you are an honest soldier. However, you must remember that if you ever get the chance to tell her how you feel…you have to remember that it is going to be hard. I've seen this play out before, you know."

"When?" I ask becoming very interested in what he has to say.

"With me," he says with a smile. That's when it hit me. He was in the same exact position I am in now. He loved a hunter, and he had to experience all the pain and heartache that came with that. Furthermore she was a Levine, which just made things all the more difficult.

I nod to show my understanding. "Doesn't change anything, Sir. I know what I'm getting myself into, but that doesn't change the fact that your daughter has made me happier than I have ever been. She's not someone you let go of just because a couple of jackass angels have decided to make your life difficult," I try to explain my feelings in the most respectful way I can. I know Jethro Gibbs is a good man because no other kind of man could have raised such an amazing girl.

"Damn good answer, Rogers. When we were planning on coming up here, I was very interested in meeting you. I hate to admit it, but you kind of remind me of myself when I was younger," he said with an approving look on his face. Well, looks like I passed the dad's inspection. Now all that's left is to make it out of this situation with my heart and Vitalani's life intact.

"Finest compliment I have ever received," I say with a respectful smile. I finish off the last of my coffee and Gibbs does the same.

"Well, she's all yours, Cap. I'm heading off to bed…too old to be staying up this long," he jokes. He grabs his cup, but instead of putting it in the sink he fills it up with more coffee. I can't help but let out a small laugh. _Like father like daughter._

Gibbs turns around and raises an eyebrow. "Sorry, Sir," I apologize. "It's just…a couple of weeks after your daughter came here, she and I were both talking in here one night and she was having horrible headaches. I ended up telling her she needed to get some sleep and she agreed, and grabbed a cup of coffee on her way out. I never knew where she got the idea in her head that coffee would help her sleep…looks like now I know."

He lets out a laugh and says, "I never taught her that. She's just a smart kid."

I nod my head in agreement, and let out another small chuckle. Gibbs is about to leave the kitchen, but instead stops and turns around. He walks up to me and holds his hand out. I smile and reach my hand out as well. He gives it one shake before releasing my hand and placing it on my shoulder. "My little girl wasn't raised to be weak. She'll make it through this and when she does I trust you to watch out for her. You couldn't have helped her out of this situation, Steve. There's no way she would have let you. She just barely knew what she was dealing with, hell even I just found out. Now you know, so please…just take care of her," his request shocks me. He trusts me with his daughter's wellbeing?

"I have every intention of doing just that, Sir – I won't betray your trust. The only place safer for your daughter is with you. I love her and if these angels want her then they'll have to kill me to get her," I promise him and I have no intention of ever breaking that promise.

He nods and pats my shoulder. "Alright, I believe you. Go. Be with Tally. And stop worrying about her. She needs a rest…once she's gotten her fill of it she'll be back, and I hope those angels have already escaped back to high heaven when she is."

"Please, I'm already afraid for their stupid asses," I smile in return. He laughs and gives me one more approving look before leaving to go back to his room.

_I like him_ I think to myself. I put my coffee mug in the sink and make my way up to Vitalani's room.

The room is dark when I enter and I decide to leave it that way. I figure I'll just sit myself in that chair and fall asleep for the night. I rub my eyes as I walk into the bedroom and I let out a small yawn. I can hear the steady beating of the heart monitor in the room which still signals the continuation of her unconscious state.

"I thought after seventy years your body was bored with sleep," a small, weak voice comes from behind me. A light from the same direction is turned on, casting out a dull glow around the room.

Slowly, as if afraid that what I heard and am seeing is only dream, I turn around. My heart drops to my stomach and the tears come back to my eyes. _Oh, God._ "…Tally?" I ask as the first tear falls.

Lying on that bed, staring back at me with the most amazing blue/gray eyes, is the beautiful soldier that stole my heart. A shy smile appears on her lovely face, "Hey, Steve."


	13. The Confession and the Return

The Confession and the Return

Vitalani's POV

I slightly chew on my lip as I stare up at Steve. To say he looks shocked would be an understatement. I can see a tear fall from his crystal blue eyes and immediately my eyes begin to sting, too. Not even facing Gabriel was this scary because at least then I knew what to expect, but now…after being out, for what I know was a very long time, and leaving him with those last parting words…I don't know what he is feeling or what he'll do.

Finally, I can't take the silence any longer. I need him to say something…to do something…anything! I take the heart monitor thing off my finger and remove the needle to the IV in two quick motions. I swing my legs over the edge and stand myself up. What I didn't consider was the fact that I haven't moved in about two weeks…oh, and I'm still injured. I feel a sharp shooting pain in my side and I let out a small scream, grabbing the nightstand for support.

This snaps Steve out of his daze. "Vitalani!" he exclaims. He rushes over to my side and gently sits me on the side of the bed. He lifts up the black tank top I'm wearing to just below my ribs. He wants check to my wound to be sure it didn't reopen due to the sudden movements.

Satisfied that the stitches are still intact he drops the fabric and slowly moves his gaze up to meet me own. My breath catches in my throat as his beautiful blue eyes lock with my own. "Tally," he breathes, reaching his hand up to gently stroke my cheek.

Suddenly he wraps his arms around my shoulders and pulls me into his chest. My arms find their way around his waist and I pull myself closer to him, as close as humanly – you know what I mean – possible. All the pent up emotions I've had for the past few weeks – including the ones before I almost died – just come rushing out. Tears leak out of my eyes and down my cheeks, and I feel Steve begin to slowly stroke my hair.

Pulling away he cups my cheeks and gently wipes away my tears. He puts his hands on my shoulders and looks me in the eyes once more. "Never again," he whispers. "Don't ever do this again, okay?"

Not trusting my voice I only nod. God, I missed him! When I met Gabriel on top of that roof, I allowed myself to accept the fact that I may never see him again. After I was dead, I was sure I never would. Now here I am, staring at the most amazing man in the world…how do you deal with something like that?

However, after looking in his eyes once more, I realize it wasn't me that had it the hardest. His eyes are so tortured, tired, sad. I can only imagine what he has gone through these last couple of days…or weeks…I'm really not one hundred percent sure yet.

"I'm sorry," I finally choke out. What? Being in a coma for awhile makes it a little hard to talk.

Steve shakes his head and stands up, going over to the small mini fridge that is in the corner of my room. He takes out a water bottle and brings it over for me to drink which I do greedily. After I drained it, I set the bottle on the night stand. Steve sits next to me on the bed and takes one of my hands in his. "I know," he says. "Trust me, you don't have to be."

I'm about to say something in return before he interrupts with a statement that chills me to the core. "Your aunt told us everything," he says, looking me in the eyes.

"Of course, she did," I mumble. _I'm going to kill her._

Steve smiles at the familiar irked look on my face and says, "Before you delve too deep into your murder plans…you should know that you actually told me some of it yourself."

I tilt my head up slightly and look at him from the corner of my eye with a raised eyebrow. "On the rooftop, you told me we'd be safe from the angels," he explains. _The things a dying woman says_.

"But that's not the only stupid thing I let myself say on that rooftop," I mutter. _I can't believe I told him_ I think, pissed with myself.I grab onto the nightstand and gently pull myself to my feet. It's not a big deal to confess your feelings to someone when you're dying and thinking that you'll never see the person again. Now, however; I'm alive and I'm afraid. I can't lose him…not after all of this.

"Vitalani," he says, standing up. I try to move away from him, but due to my current state I don't get more than a step further when his large hand descends upon my wrist. _God damn, motherfu…_ I ramble off a list of profanities in my head.

In one fluid movement, I find myself face to chest with Steve. I keep my eyes trained on his shoulder…refusing to look at him. "Tally," he tries again. My eyes stay where they are.

I hear a chuckle escape from his lips. "Stubborn woman," he whispers, slowly bringing his other hand up to firmly grab my chin and slowly move my head up. Suddenly I find that his face is not even an inch away from my own.

This is a situation I have only ever been in once…when we were boxing. I am virtually trapped by this man…the only man in the world who could play me like a violin. I let out a shaky breath and finally respond to him, "What?"

The hand on my wrist moves slowly up my arm a small ways, and an arm wraps itself around the small of my back, pushing my body closer to his. His other hand gently grabs the back of my neck, keeping my head in place. My eyes widen and I look him in his loving eyes. Steve gently smiles at me and moves his head just a little closer…I can almost feel his lips on mine. _So this is why they call it torture_ I think, suppressing a groan.

"I love you, too," he confesses against my lips before _**finally**_ pushing his lips against my own.

Everything seems to melt away at that point. There are no more angels, no more avengers, supernatural creatures, hunters, agents…nothing except Steve and I. I slowly move my hands from my sides placing the left one on his sculpted chest and knotting the other through his thick, dirty blonde hair. I pull him closer to me and he in turn tightens his arms around me, the left one now fully surrounding my neck.

This is the type of kiss you read about in story books. His lips are soft and amazing…just simply perfect. Our bodies fit together as if they were puzzle pieces that could only fit with one another and nobody else. Our lips dance with one another as we both pour out everything we feel for each other: all the lust, devotion, loyalty, respect, and love.

Sadly the need for breathing cannot be taken away for this one moment in time, and we both reluctantly must pull away after awhile. Our breaths come out heavy and we allow ourselves a moment to let air to return to our lungs. After a few seconds, realization suddenly hit me. _Did he just say…_

"You love me?" I whisper, more to myself than him.

He looks down at me and gives me a small smile. "Yes I do," he began. "After I found you on the rooftop – bleeding and close to death – I knew that the second you woke up I had to tell you. We live dangerous lives, and if I didn't tell you now I may have never gotten the chance. I don't know what I would have done if you…" he trails off, biting his lip.

"You didn't," I remind him, knowing exactly what he was going to say. "And if I have anything to say about it, you never will. This feels too right, too good, to just let it be taken. I love you too much to let that happen."

With all the seriousness in the world he looks at me and says, "You mean the world to me and I'm never letting you go, you understand? I love you, Vitalani Gibbs."

"I love you, too, Steve Rogers."

Quickly I crash my lips back onto his and he eagerly responds. We've both waited too long…been through too much to just let each other go now. This kind of love is rare and not even God himself could break the bond that exists between us. I smile and lean my body further into Steve's.

After a few minutes, I pull away and just lay my head on his strong chest while his hand caresses up and down my back. Involuntarily I let out a small yawn…you figure after being in a coma for so long you wouldn't be that tired. Turns out you'd be wrong!

Steve just laughs and picks me up bridal style. Being careful of my stitches, he gently lays me down on the bed. He is about to stand up when my hand reaches out and closes around his wrist. "Don't leave," I mumble, a blush spreading across my cheek. What? This is still new to me, okay?

"Didn't plan on it," he tells me gently.

He turns off the lamps and makes his way to the other side of the bed. He lies down and gently puts his arms around my waist, pulling me closer to him. I turn onto my right side and place my hands on his chest. _I remember this_ I say in my head as I think back to what happened after the Shtriga case.

Steve pulls the dark green, silk, comforter over both of our tired bodies. He leans down and places a kiss on my forehead. "Goodnight love," I hear as I feel myself drifting off. _This is heaven_.

Unknown POV

"So Gabriel failed?" my brother asks me.

I roll my eyes. "Does this shock you? He always was a weak boy. Too compassionate…too caring."

Brother nods. _Poor, poor, brother_ I think. _Beaten by such a pathetic child_. Oh, well. Gabriel was just another pawn…nothing important. Michael won't be happy, but frankly I could care less what Big Brother thinks. He is too concerned with these cockroaches that Father loved so much.

"What now?" the man standing next to me asks as we gaze at the Avengers mansion from afar.

"Now," I start, a sadistic smirk slowly forming on my face. "Now, we show Miss Vitalani what real power is."


	14. Ghost of Xmas Screw You & Brother, too

**A/N: I'm sorry for not updating in like a month, but things got so busy. I have decided that if I don't get 3 reviews for this chapter I may as well stop all together. Please, please review! It keeps me going!**

Ghost of Christmas Screw You and his Brother, Too

Vitalani's POV (Three weeks later)

Everything at the Avengers mansion has returned to a state of normality. Well, as normal as things can get around this place. After Gabriel and the Hands stunts against us, it is safe to say that we all deserve a bit of a break. My side is completely healed, but the scar from the angel blade still remains…an eternal reminder.

I can honestly say that I would not change anything that has happened in the last couple of months. It's been hard, but without all those events and experiences I may not be where I am right now. Where is that you may ask? That would be, reading the Poisoner series by Sarah Poole, on the couch, cuddled up into my boyfriend's side while he, Hawkeye, and Tony watch the Yankees game.

"Hey, Vitalani," Tony calls over to me.

I raise my eyes from the addicting novel and look at him, "What?"

"When are you going to invite those NCIS friends of yours back here? I gotta admit…after we got over the whole them wanting to kill us thing, they were a fun group."

Shaking my head I look at Pepper who was typing furiously away on a computer and ask her, "You okay with your boyfriends man crush on Tony number two?"

I see a small smile make a way onto her face while Tony's jaw dropped. "If it keeps him from bugging me while I'm working I could care less," she says jokingly.

I laugh and hear Tony mumble something to the effect of 'stupid bitch, always getting on my nerves' and blah blah blah. I look over at him and stick out my tongue. If he can act four, so can I.

"Play nice," a strong voice whispers in my ear.

Looking up I see my super soldier staring down at me with a smirk on his face. "Make me," I whisper back.

"I fully intend to…later," he says, his smirk increasing.

I gulp and look back down at my book. I hear him let out a soft chuckle as the arm around my shoulder begins tracing shapes on the exposed skin of my collar bone. A delightful shudder runs through my entire body. I put down my book and stand up before I jump him here and now because that might be construed as inappropriate. "I'm going to get a drink," I tell him. He nods and I make my way out the door.

When I enter the kitchen, I see Kiara is already there looking through some files. I smile at her and grab a Pepsi out of the refrigerator. "What's up?" I ask her.

She sighs and shuts the file, "Trying to track those bastards. Damn near impossible, too."

I put my hand on her shoulder and give her a serious look. "They can't stay hidden forever. They'll come back eventually," I remind her. "And when they do we'll be ready. They can't take us all.

Kiara smiles at me before turning the conversation in an even more stressful direction. "What about your problem? Any word?" she asks.

In case you don't know, she is referring to my angel problem. After I killed Gabriel about a month ago, they have been remarkably quiet. That disturbs me. My aunt, Tracend, calls once a week to inform me of anything she's found and to be sure that I'm still fine. The rebel angels want to use me as their weapon against the other angels. The rebels want to destroy the human race with my power. Gabriel was their first attempt at it, but I highly doubt he was their last.

I shake my head, "Not one. I'm not sure how much more of this I can take. I hate not knowing what's going to happen next."

"Yeah," she whispers back.

The door to the kitchen opens and we both turn to look at it. Kiara's boyfriend, Loki, enters and I take that as my cue to leave. I give them both a smile before making my way back to the others. The long ride from the kitchen to the top of the mansion gives me time to think. Not a good thing. I've been careful to hide my worries from Steve. This entire thing has rattled him almost more than it has me, and I don't want him to have to worry anymore than he already is. I know I haven't heard the last of those dickheads, and I know that they will go to almost unimaginable lengths to get me to join them. What does that mean for Steve?

The elevator stops and I immediately replace my almost panicked look to that of a simple smile. Steve looks over and smiles back while opening his arms. I allow myself to fall back into those perfectly sculpted arms and turn my attention to the game on the screen. For now I might as well enjoy the peace because I know it will not last forever.

_2:30 a.m._

_I am rushing through the streets of New York City desperate to find Steve. He is in danger and it is entirely my fault! They've found me…they want me…I don't know what I'm supposed to do anymore! They told me to listen and they'd leave him alone, they'd leave all of them alone. What am I suppose to do? _

_I continue searching the alleyways until I hear a door slam. I hurry toward the direction of the noise, but halfway down the alley I stop short. On the ground, covered in blood, is Steve. Not this dream again…please. Not again!_

_ Immediately I am by his side, shaking him hoping to wake him up, but I know it is useless. His eyes are empty and there's no pulse. There is a large stab wound right over where his beautiful heart use to lay beating. Blood begins covering my jeans; there is so much of it. It is pouring out of his cold body onto the cobblestone path like a never ending stream. A frightening cry fills the air and echoes throughout the alley. My body convulses as the tears drip down my cheeks landing on Steve's lifeless body. I should have listened. Damn my selfish pride! Why did they have to do this? _

_ "You can't save him; you can't save any of them. We need you and we are going to have you," a voice whispers sadistically in my ear. I turn to see two figures in black suits standing above me._

_I shake my head defiantly. "You can't play this game this time. I know what you are! I know how to kill you!"_

_They both let out sinister laughs that make my entire being quiver in fear. "You know what we are, but you don't know WHO we are. But don't worry little, Tally, you'll know soon enough. However, you may not be happy with what you find. Should've just said yes."_

_Hot flashes of pain begin emanating from my side, the very spot where the archangel, Gabriel, stabbed me. I look down to see blood seeping from the wound and let out a strangled cry. Their laughs begin to overpower my mind…_

I bolt up, a cold sweat covering my body, and breathing heavily. My arms surround myself as I try to stop my body from shaking. I can feel my tears of frustration rolling down my face and landing on my arms. _Please not this again…please!_ No matter how hard I try I can't seem to get their faces…their laughs…out of my head.

A gentle hand lands on my shoulder and my body stiffens. _Crap!_ "Vitalani," a tired voice asks from behind me.

"Sorry, Steve. Didn't mean to wake you," I say trying to stop my tears as well as brush off the whole incident.

That gets his attention. I hear him sit up and he then notices my shaking frame as well as the fear in my voice. "Oh, Tally," he breathes and pulls me into his naked chest, holding me in a soothing hug.

I just lay there on his chest, listening to his heartbeat which is moving at a slightly faster pace probably due to the fact that he's worried about me…again. He whispers sweet nothings in my ear and eventually the tears stop. I prop myself up on one arm and smile at him, and he gives a small smile back.

Gently I lean down and catch his lips in a chaste kiss. My left hand strokes his cheek for a moment before I detach my lips from his. "I'm fine, just a small scare," I tell him. He looks unconvinced, but pulls me back into his side and places a kiss on the top of my head.

"I love you," he reminds me, his deep blue eyes staring into my dull grey ones.

"And I love you," I tell him. _Which is why I'm not telling you anything more about this than is necessary._

Eventually I can feel his breathing return back to normal and I know he has once again fallen asleep. However, I remain awake unwilling to relive the horrors that stalk in the darkest shadows of my mind. Instead I just lay there, staring at the man I love, wondering how long I really have with him.

Unknown POV

"How much longer do we have to lay low, Brother? We can only torture her from afar for so long you realize," my older, but less imaginative, brother reminds me.

I look at him with a pleased smile on my face, "Of course. Besides the time for patience has long since passed. It is time to act."

We both look at each other and then back to the Avengers headquarters. Tomorrow will be a day that Ms. Gibbs will not soon forget.

_The next day – 5:00 p.m._

"How much more of this are you going to make us endure?" Kiara whines for the hundredth time that day.

Natasha had dragged us – Pepper, Kiara, Maria Hill, and I – out for a day of shopping. That day started at 7:00 a.m. and has yet to finish. We had been up and down Central Avenue and had only hit half the stores. Thankfully Tony made us take the limo so we could fit all the bags that hold all the crap Natasha literally forced us to buy.

Natasha shakes her head and sighs, "We're almost done, but I want to hit one more clothing store."

Kiara groans while Pepper just agrees. However, I shake my head. "I have enough clothes, if you ladies don't mind I think I'll head over to that book store on First," I say. I'd much rather spend an hour in a book store than in yet another clothing store. What can I say, I like my I.Q. where it is thank you very much.

"Fine," Natasha says. "Meet us at Bennigans in two hours for dinner."

I immediately agree and scurry off to the book store, in a hurry to get away from Kiara's pointed glare. I move around the corner and snicker at her before making my way to my destination.

_Two hours later…_(sorry for all the time skips!)

I have managed to buy about twenty books in the two hours I've been here, and had to restrain myself from buying about another ten. I love to read! One series that especially caught my interest was one based on a television show…something called Supernatural. I might have to look it up sometime.

Upon checking out I ask the cashier if he wouldn't mind holding them until after my friends and I finish eating because I didn't want to carry ten pounds worth of books for two miles. He agreed and I made my way out of the store.

The cool night breeze began playing with my raven hair as I began the walk to the restaurant. It had grown considerably darker in the two hours that I had been in the store, and I couldn't help but keep up a constant state of awareness. It may be stereotypical, but it is true that the freaks come out at night.

I've half way there when suddenly a sharp piercing scream splits the air. Without thinking I dash off of the busy sidewalks and make my way into the labyrinth of alleys that make up Manhattan. I stop at a crossroads when another scream sounds from my right. Running I maneuver myself around the debris and garbage before turning a corner and landing at a dead end. I am about to turn around and continue my search when I realize something that makes my blood run cold.

I know this alley, far, far too well. I look around and flashes of stone covered in blood – of Steve covered in blood – run through my brain. I back up a few steps and turn around before hearing, "What? Leaving so soon?"

Feet stop moving as I force myself to slowly turn around and look into the REAL eyes of the things I wish never existed. I take a deep breath and look them straight on. The taller one is a black man, average build, with dark eyes. He has this aura of power similar to Gabriel's which means one thing – Archangel. The other is not an archangel, but is far more powerful. He was shorter, white, and heavy set with sadistic eyes. If I had to go out on a limb, I'd say he was the man in charge.

"Oh, Hell," I whisper to myself.

"Not quite," the short one said. Suddenly it grows darker – as if that is even possible – and lightning flashes and I can see two pairs of black wings covering the area around them.

Their little display was over almost as soon as it started and I let out a low whistle. "Wow you guys really do overcompensate, huh? Honestly, was that really necessary? We both know that I am fully aware of exactly what you are. I didn't need the lovely light show to confirm it," I say with my signature smart ass tone in my voice.

"Well, it is always hard to tell with you, dear Vitalani. You do like to forget certain things that are…rather painful for you to remember. Isn't your dear mother proof of that?" the tall one responds.

I grit my teeth and stretch my fingers out in an attempt to stop myself from grabbing the angel blade shidden in my boots - remember I have Gabriel's now. It would hardly be a good idea to start a fight with two very powerful angels when I am all by myself. Looks like I'll have to stick to sarcasm. I can work with that.

I give him a mock innocent look, "I'm not sure what you mean. However, I am afraid you have me at a disadvantage. You know my name, but I don't know yours."

"Our apologies, Miss Gibbs. We assumed that the Levine's – in their infinite amount of wisdom – would have already been aware of the angels that lead the rebels," he sadist says.

I tilt my head and say, "Now I thought we were going to pretend to play nice with each other. Aren't angels supposed to have MORE class than humans?"

Hey, if they can play coy, so can I. There is a small, yet visible twitch, in the short one's eye when I say that. The other looks at him and nods.

"My name is Zachariah. This is my older brother, Raphael," Well, shit. I knew he was an archangel, but Raphael? That just can't be good.

I shake my head and put a finger up, "Wait, you are telling me that I was being tortured by a teenage mutant ninja turtle?"

A snarl slices through the air, and Raphael makes a move to come at me before his baby brother intervenes. "What was that about playing nice, Vitalani?" Zachariah asks.

I shrug. "I'm only 24 years old, you're a couple thousand. I don't have to be the one to play nice," I remind him. I don't care if Raphael is older; I was definitely right about Zachariah being the leader. He has a certain air about him, one that tells me that he isn't to be messed with. He'll do whatever he wants, when he wants. Of course, that isn't going to stop me.

"Now look we don't want to hurt you -" he starts.

"Oh bull crap," I interrupt him. "All you've been doing since I was eight years old is hurting me, and I know for a fact that you have no intention of stopping. I never did anything to you and I'm sorry you hate mankind, but that isn't my fault. Fight your own battles. Like I told Gabriel, I'm not going to play your game."

Zachariah sighs, "Now, Vitalani, I realize that some of the things we may have done may be considered…"

"Cruel?" I interject.

"Out of line," he responds. "But I promise you that it was all necessary to save you from further pain. Trust me we could have – and still can – do a lot worse."

I snort, "Well, thank you Ghost of Christmas Screw You. I never realize you did so much for me."

Regardless of how this meeting turns out, that nickname makes it all worthwhile. His eyes narrow at me and give him a sickly sweet smile in return. Out of nowhere, he lets out a howling laugh that causes me to involuntarily flinch.

Zachariah slowly stops laughing and smiles at me. "You truly are a feisty one, aren't you? As much fun as this banter is, I'm afraid we must get down to business," he says.

"Uh, yeah, no. See I don't intend on helping you, so there is no business to get down to. I'm not helping you destroy humanity. Period. End of story. Goodbye and goodnight," I say with a tone of finality.

I begin to walk away when suddenly I am yanked back and thrown against the brick wall at the end of the alley. The force of the impact rattles me and I slowly slide down to the ground. I hear one of them click their tongue and see his feet walking toward me. I struggle to lift myself up from the ground when I feel a kick to my ribs that immediately sends me back down.

"You know I was hoping we could work this out like rational adults, but it seems that you – much like my brothers – just won't listen to reason. You mudfish have ruled too long…risen too high for our liking. And frankly you don't deserve it," he seethes. "Understand this, child, we have come too far, fought too long, to lose just because a spoiled brat like you refuses to just accept the fate that you were destined to have."

He kicks me a few more times before walking a small ways down the alley. I let out a small cough and – using the wall as support – raise myself up. "Oh, I understand alright," I start. Zachariah turns around and stares at me. "I understand why this is all suddenly happening now. Why you are suddenly very, very eager to end it all. You are running out of time, out of men, and out of options. This pathetic little child, is Your. Only. Hope!" I hiss at him.

A stinging sensation shoots across my right cheek and white flashes against my eyes. I fall back to the ground. Zachariah picks me up by the collar and forces me to look him in the eyes. His are heated with anger and hatred, "Don't you dare to talk to ME like that. I have more power than you could ever hope to have…and you shouldn't have any at all. Why my father, my all mighty, all powerful, father would bestow such immense power to the likes of you is beyond me, but he has. You don't want to play this game with me."

I look him straight in the eye matching anger for anger, hatred for hatred. "I'm afraid, you'd lose," I tell him.

An evil smile slowly makes its way across his face, "Oh would I? So you plan on fighting me, huh? But tell me, Vitalani, what are you willing to lose to beat me?"

My body goes rigid, "Excuse me?"

"Are you willing to lose your friends, your father, your boy -"

I bring my arm back and left hook him across the face causing him to stumble back. I quickly grab the angel blade from my boot and hold it to his throat. Raphael, who was making his way toward me, stops immediately.

"Don't you dare threaten my friends. You hear me? I don't care what you do with me, but if you come near either of my teams I will end you. I may seem like a lowly human, but I am not a force to be reckoned with. Your dead brother is a testament to that. I've sacrificed enough of the people I love as it is, and I won't sacrifice anymore," I tell him.

I can feel a small trickle of blood make its way down my cheek. _Screw You's got some nails_, I think to myself. I shove him back by his collar and put the knife back in my boot. They won't do what Gabriel did. Gabriel was trying to save me from them, they need me alive and physically well to help them. I glare at them both as Zachariah dusts himself off.

He looks back up at me, squares his shoulders, and lifts his chin. "You may not be willing to risk it, but that doesn't mean you can stop us. Your high and mighty attitude can't save them, and you can't stop us. Don't cross me, girl, or your dreams of this alley may become far too real. Hope your boyfriend is ready to die," he smirks at me watching all the color drain from my face.

A flutter sounds throughout the alleyway and suddenly I am standing alone. Bruises forming on my back, arms, ribs, and cheek which also holds a nasty cut. I sink to my knees, finally letting the brave front melt off my face. I know he's right, I can't fight him alone especially not with only two angel blades. I'm screwed. No, scratch that. Humanity is probably screwed, and Steve…

The dream images flash through my head once again before I can't take it anymore. In the stillness of the night, a sharp scream pierces the air only this time I don't need to run off to know who it is.


	15. Author's Note

Author's Note:

I am very pleased with the positive comments I have gotten on this story. Thank you to everyone who has ever read it and will read it in the future. Now, there is no guarantee that this is the end, but I am going to have to take a long leave of absence from it. My new classes are starting up and many are college level. There just isn't enough time to stay on top of my work and sleep, so for now Shadow Soldier will be discontinued.

Parker's final chapter in Hell on an Angel will be finished and up soon.

Thank you all!

Lionesslullaby


	16. Bartholomew

**A/N: re-reading my story inspired me just to make a chapter for all of you who have been so patient with me. You deserve this!**

Bartholomew

After lying in the alleyway for I'm not even sure how long, I figure it's time to compose myself. Struggling with what is probably a couple of broken ribs, a jammed shoulder, and blood running down my cheek and the back of my head, my abused body stumbles back out into that great maze of back passageways.

_I need to find the rest of the girls_. As I look at how dark the sky has gotten, I'd say I've been missing for quite some time. _I hope they didn't call, Steve_ I think holding back another sob. I'm so tired of this. Of all the crying and fear and threats and pain, but what else is there to do some days? I'm supposed to be so much stronger than this…what happened to that girl?

Just as my body begins to give out on my, desperate for rest, I make it to the main road not far from where the bookstore is. Feeling safer, I lean against a brick wall belonging to one of the many buildings on this street. Sliding down, I rest on the concrete and begin digging in my back pocket for my phone. Searching through my contacts, I find who I want and press the call button.

"Vitalani!?" a panicked voice asked on the other end.

"K-Kiara…" I push out of my raw throat. "Block down from bookstore. Hurry…please?"

Immediately she agrees, "Yeah, we've already got the car and are on our way. Stay there."

Sighing, I hang up the phone and lean my head back allowing my eyes to drift shut. _Since I probably have a concussion, I really shouldn't be going to sleep. Then again, why should I care by this point?_ I think cynically. By this point, I'm wondering if I should even keep trying. Obviously, the only thing I'm good at is causing pain and destruction; a lot of destruction according to my least favorite douche-nozzles of all time.

_But where does all of this leave the Avengers? What does it mean for Steve?_ It seems like it always comes back to that. I'm such an asset and that puts everyone's lives in danger. How is that right? I can't just keep doing this to them. Loving Steve may be the greatest thing that has ever happened to me, but these guys can't be stopped like Gabriel. Maybe it would be better if I went back to D.C.? Maybe the best option would be if I just found a way to get to Michael…at least he'd be helpful – we are on the same side. Then again maybe it would be better if I just ended it all for me – just grabbed my gun and…

Bright lights and yelling breaks me out of my hopeless ponderings. "Vitalani!" I hear Kiara's voice as Natasha and her hurry to help me into the car. As they get closer, they see the damage done by Zachariah which immediately causes their faces to darken. Quickly, they usher me into the car and begin their interrogation as Maria drives.

"What the hell happened? You were supposed to meet us two hours ago. We try your phone. Nothing. You weren't at the bookstore and now we find you bloodied and broken looking dead on the side of the road. Explain!" Kiara says as she shakes me. Pepper immediately stops her seeing the dazed/pained look on my face.

Shrugging simply I respond with a stoic, "Things got complicated again it seems."

Recognition dawns in her eyes. "The angels again?" Maria questions looking in the rearview mirror right as Pepper begins to dab at the cut on my cheek. Immediately, I grab her wrist and give her a look. Not mean, more resigned to the fact that these things were going to happen to me. I don't need to get anymore use to the luxuries of friendship they have afforded me than I already am.

"Stop."

Suddenly a song comes on the radio. Bartholomew by the Silent Comedy. _Oh my God please help me. Knee deep in the river trying to get clean. He says wash your hands, get out the sins, but you best believe boy there's hell to pay. _Gee, doesn't that just describe my situation.

Kiara, having none of my standoff nature, snaps me out of my internal world once again. "Don't you dare, Vitalani Gibbs. Pulling back from us is not going to help you any. Let us care about you! We all do, especially Steve. I mean he sounded so terrified when we told him you didn't show-"

"Wait a minute," I interrupt her. "You called him?" I ask in a slightly panicked voice.

Natasha looked incredulous. "Of course we called him. Do you know how he would have reacted if we didn't find you then found out we never told him you were missing? He would not only be concerned but pissed off to high Heaven."

"Great," I mutter to myself. _Oh my God please help me. Waist deep in the river, can you hear my plea? He says son you come like a beggar in the street. You might make it boy, but by the skin of your teeth. I revel with the worst of them. Fell in love with the harlequin. Saw the darkest hearts of men, and I saw myself staring back again. _

They all look confused. Pepper speaks up first, "Why wouldn't you want him to know? He loves you…"

"I know," I say with a small smile that quickly disappears. "It is just not something he needs to concern himself with. He has enough to deal with, and he doesn't need the pressure of his drama-loving girlfriend constantly on his shoulders. This is my fight-"

"You're kidding right? We're all involved here," Kiara says. "This is a team who works together and shares every burden. That's why I brought you here; to show you that you're not alone."

Shaking my head I firmly reply, "Yeah, well I've got to be. I love that you guys are like that, but this isn't some half-ass demigod with a chitauri army. These are the most powerful creatures in history with an army that could make nukes looks like a baking soda volcano. Just like you've decided to deal with the Hand on your own, I'm dealing with Heaven. The Avengers are too much to risk – you all mean something to the world. Which is why-" my rant is interrupted by Maria announcing we're here.

"Why what?" Kiara starts though I'm sure she has much more to say, and scream about, from my previous statements.

I just shake my head and struggle to stand up on the street outside Avengers Tower. _Damn my entire upper body kills!_ "Nothing," I whisper. Slowly making my way into the lobby, the other four follow close behind while flinching at my swollen shoulder and blood running down my neck which they missed before. They haven't even seen my ribs, of course neither have I and I have to imagine that it isn't pretty.

As we push the button to the elevator, I hardly hear Natasha ask Jarvis where everyone else is. My hand snaps out to grab the side of the moving box as my head begins to pound severely. Vision and sound become almost tunneled as we move up. I think I hear Jarvis say that they are awaiting are arrival in the meeting room. Closing my eyes, I clear my mind and just focus on breathing while ignoring the four worried Avengers behind me.

Once we reach the top, the headache has subsided and I anxiously wait for the doors to open. Frankly, I'm not at all excited about seeing Steve – not because I didn't miss him or no longer love him – but because I have so much to lose by losing him. I'm slowly losing everything I've ever cared about, and that ladies and gentlemen is the real definition of torture.

The doors open and the meeting room is turned into a virtual mob scene. All the guys, minus Fury of course, were up out of their chairs and checking to see if I was okay. Steve almost ran over to me and brought me into his beautiful arms. However, he did not account to the extent of damage aka my ribs which caused me to release a sharp intake of breath that he naturally noticed.

He pulls away as Kiara explains everything to the Avengers in an almost hostile tone due to her unhappiness with me at the moment. This allows Steve to take a second and look me over. As Kiara finishes her Reader's Digest version – skipping most of the car conversation – he asks while pushing the bangs that had fallen from my ponytail out of my face to examine the cut, "How badly did they beat you?"

"Nothing I can't handle," I say with a shrug of my shoulders which results in a slight cringe. Steve gets an incredulous look on his face as his left hand increases the pressure on my arm.

"Yeah, I call that nothing," Tony sarcastically comments while everyone else continues to examine my stoic face except Kiara who refuses to look at me.

"Tally, let me help you with the wounds," Steve says carefully moving to grab the elevator and take us back down to our room. He carefully wraps his arm around my shoulders and strokes the back of my head around the wound. I look up at him allowing some of the exterior to fall and him to see my weariness. This allows a small smile to play on his lips as he sees me return to, well, the me he has always known. "You need some rest anyway." He gently reminds me as he kisses my forehead.

A scoff is heard behind us. "Good luck," Kiara sneers still visibly upset with me. I know it's hard to tell, she hides it so well. "We tried and just got the ice queen. Not only will she not let us help with that, she won't let us help with the angels. She's decided all on her own that she isn't worth what we are."

"Kiara," I warn taking a predatory step forward.

Steve immediately stops me, pulling me into his warm body tighter. "Vitalani, that's not true, right? You know we can help you and that we want you here, right?"

"That's not her point! Whatever these things are scare her which means there is no way that we can get involved. Which is also why she's pulling back. She's going to do something stupid again, not at all caring that we could all end up losing someone we care about!" Kiara screams, Loki holding her back from attacking me.

Suddenly, my head begins to have sharp shooting pains causing me to squeeze my eyes shut in an attempt to bar myself against the pain. "Yes, I'm scared," I say trying to ignore the pain. "But that's because I've seen what they'll do. They show me…all the time. I've only got so many options that can stop that from happening. They may not be ideal, but what else am I supposed to do guys? There is no hidden door that I can use to get out of this like I always have had in the past. My options are…p-painfully limited."

"Your nightmares?" Steve whispers. "That's what has been putting you through the ringer lately? God, Vitalani…"

"So what have you decided then?" Kiara asks. "In the car you said 'Which is why.' So what horrible option did you pick?"

"I haven't," I whisper meakly. "I-I don't…" but I trail off my knees finally failing me. Steve, like he's always has, catches me and sends a look toward Kiara while firmly telling her enough is enough. She softens at seeing my less than okay state and simply mumbles.

"I don't want to lose my best friend. It's just what you want to do is so crazy," she pleads with me.

"No. I've bypassed crazy, slid by insane, and am on my way to straight psychotic," I tell her in a low voice. _I've been given no other options…_

Steve immediately whisks me into the elevator and presses it toward our floor while at the same time pressing a kiss to my forehead. "I know you don't want to need help, but that's never going to stop me from giving it to you," he reminds me gently while picking me up bridal style. I murmur something incoherent as he gets us to our room and sets me on the bed while he gets the first aid kit from the bathroom.

Gently, he wipes off the blood and helps me wrap my shoulder and ribs to avoid movement making it worse. As this is being done, he asks me, "What do they make you see? In your nightmares?"

"Don't make me answer that," I tiredly beg while grabbing his hands in my own and pressing a kiss to each. "You are not going to like what you find when you peer behind that door."

"Maybe not," he agrees putting both hands on my face as he continues to kneel in front of my sitting body. "But you have a huge burden to unload right now. You let me talk to you, and – like I've told you a thousand times – I don't mind sharing your problems. That's why I'm here," he tells me gently stroking my cheek.

Relenting I look up at him, "The same thing I've seen since that first night in the kitchen. Your death. A violent, bloody death which falls solely on my shoulders. I saw that alleyway tonight, too. It's where they cornered me and tried to convince me to help them again."

With inhuman speed, he's sitting next to me and wrapping his arms me and holding me to him. "Th-They'll do it, Steve. There is no conscious in these things. I can't let you guys stay involved. Which is why…I might go back to D.C." I say muttering the words I hoped I'd never have to.

"No," he says as he pulls away from me his eyes almost angry. "You don't get to decide that for me, Tally. I'm in this for the long haul like I try to convince you all the time. I know you think you are saving me, but leaving isn't the answer! Haven't you ever heard of strength in numbers? I may not be a hunter, but I am a big boy who can protect himself and am trying to do for you what you think you always have to do alone. Just-" he breaks frustrated. Sighing he runs his hand across my face, over my neck, and down my left arm. "Stop trying to protect me and let me love you."

Not giving me a chance to respond, he presses his lips to mine in a scorching kiss that immediately has my arms around his neck and trailing down his muscular back trying to bring him in closer. _I don't know whether he is just the embodiment of perfection or stupidity_ I think sarcastically but with a small smile. I know he's not wrong, and I know he would stay with me through any of this, but can I really be responsible for another person's death? Especially someone who I love so desperately?

Sensing my thoughts trailing back down that dark path, Steve gently parts my lips as he lays down on our silk covered bed pulling me on top of him; eventually he detaches his lips from mine, an unhappy mew escaping my mouth only to be replaced with a delighted moan, as he finds that spot at the place where my neck and shoulder meet which makes me shiver. Letting my hands fall down to the hem of his shirt, I pull it up forcing him away from me as it gets thrown across the room. My fingers trace those amazing muscles which elicits a low grown out of him.

Quickly, I'm pinned to the bed. "I'm going to get that poisoned way of thinking out of your head if it's the last thing I do. I love you and I will help you get out of this, that way we can spend the rest of our lives in a way we deem right. I'm just as determined as you, my little Lioness," he almost growls as his hands find the bottom of my shirt.

Desperately, I bring his lips back up to mine craving the taste of him. "Oh, I know you may think you can convince me," I tell him breathlessly as I allow my top to join his. "I love you, too, Steve. However, that doesn't mean I'm going to make this easy on you. Show me, Super Soldier, just how determined to change my ways you really are."

A wolfish smile makes its way onto this Apollo's face, "Let the games begin." Lips are suddenly slammed back into mine and we begin our passion play.

(I don't do lemons)

Time skip to about 3 hours later…man they should really market that Super Serum

I lie in bed after an exhausting night with the most amazing man in the universe, but believe me I'm not complaining. I may not like that he is involved in this mess, but I do love him and he is determined to stay. It's hard to see that he is really not immortal sometimes, and me saying I may leave showed me just how devastating that could be for him. That leaves me with only one option.

I curl up against Captain America, pressing a kiss to his strong jaw, and he tightens his grasp around my waste while softly bringing my bruised mouth up to his to taste one last time for tonight. Slowly parting mouths leave with a smile, and the both of us readjust our position for, what will hopefully be, a peaceful night. He one hand rest on my hip while the other strokes my hair while his hair falls delicately over his face as his head hits the pillow. With a smile, I move that piece of golden hair to the side and rest my head on his chest both arms wrapping around his narrow waist.

As my eyes fall shut, I give that option one last thought.

_Help me save them, and I'll help you save your family. Please. It is time we ended this together. We have too much to lose._

_I hope your listening because I'm on your side, Michael._


End file.
